The Hindu Business Line : Fresh bids to be invited for biotech SEZ, Bangalore Helix

Bangalore, June 18 Bangalore Helix, the Rs 300-crore biotechnology SEZ floated by the Karnataka Government, is to be re-tendered for the development of its phase 2, according to State authorities.

This exercise will be the third attempt and the State hopes to be lucky this time round. The move to re-bid comes almost two years after a consortium of US-based Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc and TCG Urban Infrastructure Holdings of The Chatterjee Group was publicly named as developers.

They had been picked at the height of growth of the Indian realty sector, from among a cream of 16 contenders such as Shapoorji-Pallonji, DLF, IVRCL Infra, Mahindra GESCO and L&T.

A second bid in January did not fetch any proposals, even after the State Government gave a time of 100 days and extended it until May 28, according to Mr Aravind Jannu, Director, IT & Biotechnology and MD of the nodal agency KBITS (Karnataka Biotechnology & IT Services).

“This is after all the meltdown period. We hope to issue a fresh tender” this month or in July, almost on the same terms as before, he told Business Line, adding that they expected it to be fruitful this time. Bangalore is home to almost half or 187 of the country’s biotech entities – including Biocon, the second largest Indian biotech company.

KBITS will pick up 26 per cent stake in the special vehicle that the selected bidder will form. The land will be given on an initial lease of 35 years.

The earlier bidder team apparently pulled out after differences cropped up between the partners over their roles. The non-starter biotech park has been in the news for some five years.

The 100-acre Helix is meant to be a beacon for global biotech companies and house 50-100 big and small entities engaged in a variety of high-end activities, on the lines of the International Tech Park that drew IT companies in the 1990s.

Some 20 acres has already been developed and houses the Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology.

More Stories on : Bio-tech & Genetics | Infrastructure | Karnataka

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