APIIC sits on Rs 80cr R & D facility by SAMEER at Vizag

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, June 27, 2014:  While the state government has been taking steps to attract investments in every sector, bureaucratic hurdles, seem to be the norm, which is said to have been dissuading the prospective and enthusiastic entrepreneurs.

Delay in setting up of R & D facility by Society for Applied Microwave Electronic Engineering and Research (SAMEER), stands a classic example of red-tapism. Its been more than a year that SAMEER that comes under, union ministry of communications and information technology, applied for 20 acres of land at one of the SEZs of APIIC, to set up  its campus in Vizag with an initial investment of Rs 80 crore, but they were not unable to ground the facility.

The extension centre of SAMEER Electromagnetic Environmental Effects (E3) Lab will have at least 300 employees.

Initially in Oct 2013 SAMEER officials were shown land at Duvvada for which they have given their consent after the site visit. But later it was informed that it comes under Forest land and in Feb this year it was indicated as Makavaripalem, for which the SAMEER have submitted is reservation for the location after the site visit on Mar 5.

SAMEER was set up as an autonomous R&D laboratory at Mumbai, under the then department of electronics, Government of India, with a broad mandate to undertake R&D work in the areas of microwave engineering and electromagnetic engineering technology.

It has facilities in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. It has decided to set up its second facility in south India at Vizag. The R&D facility will also provide employment for technicians and engineers.

Though the APIIC, CMD had given a letter of consent allotting 20 acres of land at Gambheeram, which was discussed at the Standing Finance Committee (SFC) of SAMEER held in April, the officials had to run from pillar to post since then for the actual allotment.

 “Since long we have bee following up with the AP government,  but so far there is no positive response. Now administrative approval has been granted, the project clock has started from June 2014. We are unable to proceed due to non availability of land,” said a senior official of SAMEER.

 They have also approached local IT related associations and forums seeking help in resolving the issue and for immediate allotment and grounding of the facility.

A local IT company, Symbiosys Technologies offered help to SAMEER.   “I have offered my personal office space for at least one year or till they get their land allotment and other things settled. The readymade office space with AC and Internet free of cost are available to start their operations immediately,” said Symbiosys Technologies CEO and Rushikonda IT Park Association (RITPA), vice president, O Naresh Kumar.

Out of the total outlay of Rs 80.02 crs for four years, an amount of Rs 59cr is estimated towards meeting the capital expenditure like test instrumentation, anechoic chamber, 3D EM modeling tools and various modeling lab and an amount of Rs 21.2cr is estimated towards recurring expenses. An amount of Rs 5.90cr  is provided by SAMEER as their contribution of the project towards recurring expenditure. And after taking this into account Rs 74.12cr will be from the department of IT under Grants-in-Aid.