By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net
Bhopal : The Bharatiya Janata Party ruled Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan held an interactive session with leading industrialists on the possibilities and prospects of investments in key areas of development in Madhya Pradesh in Mumbai today.
The Commerce and Industries Minister, Babulal Gaur and senior officers of the State Government were also present on the occasion. The interactive session was organised jointly by the FICCI and Trade & Investment Facilitation Corporation (TRIFAC).
According to an official Press release a few presentations were also made on the initiatives being taken by the Madhya Pradesh Government for attracting investments towards industrial development in Madhya Pradesh on the occasion. A sizeable number of industrialists, who have so far made investments in the state, applauded the State Government for the cooperation and assistance extended by it towards their ventures coming into existence.
They also motivated and persuaded other big industrialists to come up with investment plans so as to facilitate industrial development in Madhya Pradesh. The Chief Minister, Chouhan also extended an invitation to the industrialists present on the occasion to participate in the proposed Global Investors Summit at Indore in October 2007.
The Chief Minister reportedly told the participants that Madhya Pradesh with the benefit of its central location in the country, is endowed with vast natural resources and fertile land. Rivers such as Narmada, Tapti, Chambal, Kali Sindh and Betwa flow here. There is no match to the Sharbati variety of wheat elsewhere in the country and the Basmati rice produced here is not only getting popular in other parts of the country but also being exported to other countries. As much as 65 per cent of the total production of soyabean in the country is produced in Madhya Pradesh besides it leads in pulses and wheat production also. Hence, there is tremendous scope for investments in food processing industry.
Referring to the lack of proper attention to infrastructure development four years ago by the previous regime, the State had lagged behind in industrial development. The present government has removed the shortcomings paying adequate attention to this vital sector of development. At present, on an average 22 kilometre roads are being constructed everyday
in the state. Roads measuring 30,000 kilometres have been constructed in the last quarter to four years and the present government hopes to construct 40,000 kilometres long roads till it completes its tenure.
Referring to the initiatives being taken by the state government in power sector, Chouhan said that a target has been set to make the state a self-reliant state in power generation by the year 2007. The electricity generation capacity of the state in December 2003 was 2990 megawatt. The present government has increased the electricity generation by 2396
megawatt. This year, another 750 M.W. electricity generation would be added to the total power generation of the state.
“We have also further simplified our captive power policy so as to ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity to the industries”, he added. The electricity generation has been started from the power plants by completing them well ahead of the targeted period. Madhya Pradesh is the first state which has reduced the power tariff rates from Rs. 4.25 per unit to Rs. 3.75 per unit for the industries, he pointed out.
The Chief Minister invited the investors to make investments in the areas such as industry, infrastructure, tourism, IT, bio-technology, education etc. in Madhya Pradesh. Chouhan told the investors that it is beneficial for them to make investments in the state. He also elaborated on the various concessions and facilities available in Madhya Pradesh to
attract investments.
Chouhan said that single table concept has been introduced by making the single window system more effective so as to make the administration investor friendly. Madhya Pradesh Government has set up a project clearance and implementation board. The Chief Secretary is the chairperson of this board and the principal secretaries and secretaries of the concerning
departments are the members. The Chief Minister also explained to the participants the procedure of clearance of various projects.
The Chief Minister said that the consent has been received for inclusion of Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh in the proposed Delhi-Mumbai corridor. This will help facilitate industrialisation at a faster pace in the state.
The Commerce and Industries Minister, Babulal Gaur said that as a result of investor friendly policy of Madhya Pradesh, the Government of India has made investment to the tune of Rs. 25,000 crore in the last three and a half years. Also, investment proposals worth over Rs. one lakh 80,000 crore have been received. Of these, industries involving investment of Rs.
40,000 crore have already gone into production.
He said that there is a favourable atmosphere which is fully conducive to the growth of industries in the state. President, M.P. unit of FICCI, Ramesh Chandra Agrawal and others also spoke on the occasion. ([email protected])