As per the latest data provided by the Gujarat government, of the total 229 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) signed in the energy sector during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors' Summits (VGGIS) 2009 and 2011, 35 projects have been commissioned as of December 31, 2011.
In a written reply to the state assembly, state energy minister, Saurabh Patel informed that out of the total Rs 7,84,011 crore worth of MoUs signed in the energy sector during the two summits, MoUs worth Rs 27,170.06 crore have been realised till December 2011. This works out to be 3.46 per cent of the total promised investments during the two summits.
"Out of the 229 projects promised during VGGIS 2009 and 2011, 152 projects are under implementation and 35 projects are commissioned. As of December 31, 2011, projects worth Rs 122,531 crore are under implementation and those worth Rs 6,61,480.93 crore are at the preliminary stage. Rs 27,170.06 crore worth of investments have been realised," informed Patel in a reply to a query raised in the assembly during the budget session.
However, he pointed out that regulatory hurdles and time consuming process of various clearances causes delay in the execution of energy sector projects.
"It takes around 5-6 years for a project to come to production mainly in the energy sector as issues such as fuel linkage, environmental and other regulatory approvals, land acquisition among others involves long process. Investment in the energy sector is a continuous process. No project from the MoUs signed during 2009 and 2011, has been dropped," said the minister.
The government has divided process of project execution in the four different stages namely, commissioned, under implementation, preliminary stage and dropped.
Under implementation is a stage, when the company completes process of land acquisition and starts construction of the project, while preliminary stage of the project is considered when a company submits the draft project report.
Taking a dig at the government, opposition Congress alleged that state government made false claims over the success ratio of MoUs signed during the VGGIS events.
"It is evident from the response of the energy minister that the state government is making false claims of the huge success of VGGIS and bringing investments. Only 3.5 per cent of the total investment in energy sector has actually been made so far, which reveals false tall claims made by the government," said Shaktisinh Gohil, leader of opposition.
According to the government data, overall 8660 MoUs were signed during VGGIS 2009 and 8380 MoUs were signed during VGGIS 2011. About 3.4 per cent of these were dropped (389 MoUs for 2009 and 286 MoUs for 2011).
As per the data, out of the total investments promised during VGGIS 2009 and 2011, actual investments for 2009 was Rs 91,639.64 crore and for 2011 was Rs 57,050.55 crore, totalling to Rs 148,690.19 crore for the two summits.
