With 650 wholesale shops, all accommodated in a five-storey building at Gollapudi on National Highway-9, the Vasavi Pharma Market Complex will be the biggest and the first of its kind in the State. Chief Minister K. Rosaiah will lay the foundation stone for the market complex during his visit on Sunday.
Such a centralised pharma wholesale market currently exists in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, but the one coming up in the city will have much better facilities.
The pharma market with a project cost of Rs. 50 crore will have two cargo lifts having the capacity to lift a 1.5-tonne goods auto rickshaw to the fifth floor.
The Vasavi Pharma Market Complex Welfare Society secretary D. Nageswara Rao, treasurer Sadhu Prasad, vice-chairman J. Siva Prasad and executive member N. Chennakesavulu talking to The Hindu on Thursday said that they would make use of the latest technology to reduce the burden of the work force. The parcels would be pooled in the cellar and the respective transport companies would take them away.
Custom-built trolleys would make it easy for the parcels to be shifted to the different shops in the building. Two ramps would be provided to facilitate loading and unloading.
Three elevators and an equal number of staircases would also be provided.
While it was mandatory for the shops to be air-conditioned as per the Drug Control Rules, the society would run an air-conditioned canteen as well. Five generators, one for each floor, with a capacity of 100 kv would also be provided, they said.
The immediate benefit for the wholesale merchants would be in the form of rent saved. Most of the pharma merchants were now running their business in rented accommodation. With the growth of the pharma industry, their businesses are growing rapidly. But the accommodation available is still the same.
“I was luckier than others. The shop adjacent to mine became vacant and I took it, though I am paying premium rent,” said pharma merchant Sriram Razith Kumar.
The pharma traders would be saving crores of rupees on rent every year. The same money could be used to expand their operations.
The market complex that would be just 5 km away from the bus station and railway station would be accessible to all.
The highly motivated society members want to build a hospital to provide free medicare to the employees and donors. They have already come forward to build four temples in the 2.71-acre property that would be beautified to create a great ambiance, the office-bearers said.
Taking a cue from the pharma merchants, other merchants are thinking of establishing such centralised market complexes.
