ROME, July 7 (Reuters) - Italian authorities on Monday

appointed a special commissioner to help Danish drugmaker Novo

Nordisk speedily deliver its promised 2 billion-euro

($2.34 billion) investment in a factory south of Rome.

As part of Novo Holdings' takeover of pharmaceutical company

Catalent last year, Novo Nordisk acquired a site in

Italy along with two others, one in Belgium and one in the

United States.

Francesco Rocca, president of the Lazio region that includes

Rome and is where the Anagni factory is based, was made special

commissioner for the site, a role giving him powers to speed up

projects related to the facility, including upgrades.

The factory will produce weight loss and anti-diabetes

drugs, the region said in a statement, adding that Rocca's

appointment "aims to ensure administrative speed and

institutional coordination, essential elements for a project of

this magnitude".

Italy's government approved Novo's plans to upgrade capacity

at the Anagni site in March, saying the company had pledged to

invest more than 2 billion euros in 2025-2029 and hire around

800 people, boosting the total workforce to 1,500.

The government declared the plans to be of "pre-eminent

strategic interest", a status granted to large foreign

investment projects that allows the fast-tracking of approval

procedures.

($1 = 0.8530 euros)