Bhupen Goswami
GUWAHATI : Assam today witnessed major private investment initiatives, as State government inked nine Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) with nine companies at a function held at Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra in presence of Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma today. It may be noted that as a part of the MoUs decks have been cleared for private investment estimated to the tune of Rs. 8201.29 crore. Commissioner, Industries, Commerce and Public Enterprises Oinam Sarankumar Singh signed the agreements with the industry players like PepsiCo India Holding Limited, Varun Beverages Limited, Calcom Cement India Limited, Star Cement NE Limited, Century Float Glass Limited, Taj Cement Manufacturing Pvt. Limited, Star Cement India Limited and DS Group.
On the other hand MD AIDC Manavendra Pratap Singh singed an MoU with the Adani Group for a Centre for Perishable Cargo at LGBI airport to provide state of the art infrastructure for air cargo handling facility to boost export of horticulture products from entire North East. Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Dr. Sarma termed it a red letter day as the state witnessed pumping in private investment estimated to the tune of Rs. Rs. 8201.29 crore today. He said, “We have resolved the fault line in our society. The last two years have been unique in our history as for the first time since Assam agitation, we haven't seen any bandh or agitation that endangered the industrial environment of the State”. For expediting industrial development of the state, Assam Government has formulated a customised industrial policy to help individual private investment to the size of more than Rs. 100 crore. Therefore, State government has presented a congenial investment climate to put Assam on a robust growth trajectory. The Chief Minister also said that the investment in the sectors namely beverages, snacks and food manufacturing, cement, glass, electric vehicles manufacturing would help in setting up of mega industrial projects in different parts of the state. He also said the fact that the investments and the follow up activities would generate an estimated 6115 employment opportunities in the state is a very welcome development.
Talking about the accelerated growth of SGDP, the Chief Minister said that in the last budget State government has created a corpus fund of Rs. 3000 crore to enable all the members of self help groups to convert themselves into micro-entrepreneurs so that they can contribute to the growth of SGDP. For the youth in the state, government has decided to give clean subsidy Rs. 2 lakh to each entrepreneur in an effort to create two lakh new youth entrepreneurs in the state. He also said that once the Assam Skill University becomes operational, state would get at least 10 thousand skilled manpower every year. Dr. Sarma also said, “I am sure this investment would augur well in expediting the rate of development and lending an accelerated growth momentum. This is just a beginning of our promising journey as we move along, our state will witness many more investments to overhaul the industrial landscape of the state”. Industries and Commerce Minister Bimal Bora also spoke on the occasion. Agriculture Minister Atul Bora, Handloom, Textile and Soil Conservation Minister UG Brahma, Finance Minister Ajanta Neog, Health and Family Welfare Minister Keshab Mahanta, Public Health Engineering etc Minister Jayanta Mallabaruah, Minister for Welfare of Tea Tribes Sanjoy Kishan, Revenue Minister Jogen Mohan and host of other dignitaries were present on the occasion.
