Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today said although last year's Bihar assembly poll results did not go in favour of BJP, the Centre has stuck to its plan of setting up two locomotive factories with Rs 40,000 crore investment in the Nitish Kumar-helmed state.
"We decided to have two main diesel and electric locomotive factories. This (investment) was decided before the Bihar elections. We decided to keep it there despite the election results," Prabhu told a gathering of Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) in Vasco town.
What is important is development of the country and that can happen only when all states, including those of backward regions like Bihar are developed, the minister said.
"Therefore, we decided to set up the factory there with Rs 40,000 crore investment...This is the highest ever investment in Railways," he said.
The proposed factories will use best technology and will provide jobs to thousands of youths.
The minister also said the Modi-led government is working on transforming India's profile by increasing the GDP.
"Why only 15-16 per cent should come from manufacturing industry? We want to take it to 30-40 per cent. Then only our one and half crore people will get jobs. If you want to create jobs you must create stable environment for investments so that it can change India's GDP, making it more helpful for manufacturing," he said.
The Centre wants to bring structural changes in India's economy, Prabhu said adding, "if we make large investment into a big project, that will help in creating an ecosystem for so many other small and medium entrepreneurs.
Prabhu said India has signed an agreement with Japan to
upgrade entire railway network.
"Japanese will invest in the Indian Railways. We also insisted that Japan must help India to upgrade existing railways and safety aspect. Japanese have the best record in safety levels," he said.
Prabhu opined that a country grows with the investment in the industrial sector.
"Every time we look at what is happening today, we should look at what was there one-and-half years back. We saw the phase, where economy was pulled out of the crisis. Our Prime Minister and Finance Minister had done a great job in ensuring that we were pulled out of the situation," he said.
"If we look back, we have definitely made significant progress, which has solved the problems. The inflation is down, we have been able to inspire the confidence of local community. Whole world is looking at India in a different way," the minister said.
Countries like France, the US, China, Japan are interested in India and this is the best opportunity for the country.
