Calcutta, Jan. 8: Bengal will relish this: its first “mega food park” that promises over 50,000 jobs and will cost Rs 165 crore to build is to come up in Murshidabad’s Jangipur, Union external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee’s parliamentary constituency.

The site of the park, to be spread over nearly 60 acres, will be finalised after state officials conduct a recce in Jangipur tomorrow. The developers plan to acquire the plot directly.

The park is one of 20 cleared by the Centre across the country last November to speed up the growth of the farm sector. “Mega food parks” are those with investments above Rs 70 crore.

The public-private venture will have five nodal centres or sub-centres, primarily to ensure uninterrupted supplies to markets.

Bengal’s Food Processing and Horticulture Development Corporation will invest in the park, as will the Central Warehousing Corporation. Private partners will be selected later.

Approval from the Centre, which will provide a Rs 50-crore grant, came this week. Officials said work could begin as early as June.

“The central food processing industries department’s approval came this week and the (Bengal) government is looking for a plot in Jangipur. The park will be a major boost to the region,” said an official of the state food processing department.

The team going to Jangipur tomorrow includes Food Processing and Horticulture Development Corporation managing director Ravi Inder Singh.

Of the Rs 165 crore to be invested, Rs 150 crore will be spent on construction and Rs 15 crore on purchasing the land. “A sum of Rs 50 crore will come as a grant from the Centre, Rs 82 crore as loans from nationalised banks, while the remaining Rs 33 crore will be raised through equity (from the developers),” the official said.

“With its sub-centres and tertiary (ancillary) units around the site, the park should generate employment for over 50,000 people directly and indirectly,” said Murshidabad district magistrate Parwez Ahmad Siddiqui.

The park will mainly process rice, potatoes, mango, pineapple and vegetables. Siddiqui said the sub-centres would come up in Beldanga (Murshidabad), Katwa (Burdwan), Ayushpur (Burdwan), Rampurhat (Birbhum) and Kaliachak (Malda).

The DM said the “government wants to start the project as soon as possible”. Finding a single plot of 50-60 acres “could be a little difficult”, Siddiqui said, but added “some options were available”. “No land acquisition (by the government) would be involved.” Other officials said they would “like to see” the work start by June.

The government expects the project to not only open up new vistas in Bengal’s food processing industry but also lead to economic development in Jangipur and in areas near the sub-centres.

“The mega food park will will bring about all-round development in and around Jangipur and the sub-centres. Numerous ancillary and tertiary units should also come up,” said a senior official of the state agriculture department.