It will be the fourth premier institute in the city after the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) and the Indian Institute of Nanotechnology (IIN).

While the NIPER, which is the first institute of the country to be set up in Mohali, is functioning from its campus in Sector 67, the IISER is functioning from its transit campus at the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration (MGSIPA) in Sector 26, Chandigarh, since August last year. The IIN, meanwhile, is all set to start functioning from the next academic session onwards. The MGSIPA and the Habitat Centre, Sector 64, have been identified as the transit campus of the IIN for accommodating its classes and hostel.

Clearing the memorandum moved by the Department of Biotechnology under the Union Ministry of Science and Technology, the Union Council of Ministers, approved a budget of Rs 380 crore to be spent on the NABI, during the next five years.

The Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA), meanwhile, has handed over the land to the concerned departments in the Union Government for setting up the national institutes, which will form a part of the Knowledge City.

The GMADA had acquired 381 acres of land in Sector 81, to set up an integrated Knowledge City, last year. The work on this land had been kick-started on September 26 2006, with the laying of the foundation stone by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The work to provide road connectivity to Chilla village, which is presently connected through a road passing across the Knowledge City land, has already begun. According to the concept layout plan prepared for Knowledge City, the area allocated was 160 acres for IISER, including IIN, 35 acres for NABI, 80 acres for Bio-Technology Park, 70 acres for Management Institute and 3 acres for PBTI.