Fold up “non performing” industrial corridor projects says Commerce Minister

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has directed National Industrial corridor Development corporation to fold up Industrial corridor projects where the concerned state governments are unable to acquire lands.

The Minister directed NICDC to foreclose the projects where the State Government is not able to provide committed land in a time bound manner and to conceive projects in other states that are willing to offer land to expedite investments in their respective states.

The Minister was participating in the second meeting of apex monitoring authority constituted by the centre to review the progress of Industrial corridor projects with majority of them hanging in balance for the past several years.

Amidst tardy progress in the implementation of half a dozen of Industrial corridor projects mostly in Southern India during the last nine years, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal urged the state governments for faster allotment of lands at reasonable rates for these projects.

While there has not been any progress in the several industrial corridor projects the central government put its full might behind the two dedicated corridor projects linking Mumbai with Delhi and Ludhiana with Kolkata ushering in economic progress in northern states. Railways have ensured that the beneficiary states made available hundreds of acres of land for the corridor projects.

The Minister said States should adopt innovative models and offer package deals for faster investments and electricity rates should be affordable and consistent as high rates of electricity are a deterrent to the industry the minister said most of the projects are not financially viable

As far slow progress of industrial corridor projects the Minister urged the State Governments to expedite acquisition of contiguous, litigation encumbrance free land and grant early environmental clearances for the NICDIT projects.  States should focus on expediting the finalization and execution of the Shareholders Agreements and State Support Agreements.

The Apex Monitoring Authority comprises of Finance Minister as Chairperson, Minister-in- charge, Commerce, Railways, Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Minister of Shipping, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, and Chief Minister(s) of States concerned. Chief Ministers from four states, viz. Gujarat, Haryana, Uttarakhand, and Maharashtra; Ministers from 9 States viz. Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab, Jharkhand, Karnataka, and Rajasthan besides senior officials from all the states attended the meeting

Finance Minister, Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman emphasized the need to ensure continued coordination between the Central and the State Governments and said they should work collectively as ‘Team India. She urged all the States to tie up loose ends and move forward and resolve all pending issues through greater exchange and sharing of information to expedite the progress of works in the respective States.