Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has told his officials to keep the public interest in mind while acquiring land for companies to establish industries in the state. “Think twice where land acquisition is involved. The public interest is as important as the industrial development,” he told them yesterday, while reviewing the status of agreements signed for various investment proposals made in January this year.
Allotment of land by the state to industries in the 2004-09 ministry of Rajasekhara Reddy has become the subject of much controversy, with more than one probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
According to an official statement, Reddy asked officials from the industries, energy and tourism departments to list the problems in the initiation of projects, besides reviewing the status of these proposals.
The state had got 115 proposals with an investment of Rs 2.78 lakh crore in the industrial sector, 89 proposals with an investment of Rs 3.1 lakh crore in the energy sector, 11 proposals with an investment of Rs 33,300 crore in the infrastructure sector, and 13 proposals with an investment of about Rs 22,400 crore in the information technology sector, among others, according to the government.
Among the proposals received by the industries department in the manufacturing sector, four projects have commenced operations, 91 are under implementation and another 20 proposals are in initial stages, according to the chief minister’s office. In the IT sector, two projects are currently under implementation.
In the energy sector, of the 46 proposals received for setting up 4,641 Mw of wind power projects, clearance has been given to those with a capacity of 2,278 Mw so far, and projects with 755 Mw capacity have been completed, it said.
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A total of 243 investment proposals for establishing 265 units had been received during the Partnership Summit in January, entailing a combined investment of Rs 6.49 lakh crore, according to a government note.
Focus on time, costs
Meanwhile, the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Fapcci) said the government should have a policy which on the one hand encourages industry and brings down the overall time and cost of setting up units and, on the other hand, prevents people from unnecessarily sitting on unused land.
Devendra Surana, president of Fapcci, has also urged the government to include additional facilities in the allotment policy, including availability of land on a deferred tenure of 10-15 years, with enough resources in the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation(APIIC) to back up the industrial demand. APIIC should offer ready facilities for industrial areas to reduce the lead time for setting up a manufacturing unit, especially for small scale units, he said.