Assam CM hopes to convert 80 pc of investment proposals into reality

Guwahati: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said that the Advantage Assam 2.0 summit got investment and infrastructure proposals worth over Rs. 5.18 lakh crore and hoped to convert around 80 percent of the investment proposals into reality in the coming years.

Defining the summit as a turning point for the industrial growth of the state Mr Sarma told reporters, “Usually, a strike rate of 50 percent of total investments promised turning into reality is considered good. I am hoping that we will be able to convert around 80 percent of the proposals made at the summit into reality,”

The summit, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, prominent union ministers, industrialists Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani and Anil Agarwal along with business delegations from several foreign countries saw investment and infrastructure proposals worth over Rs 5.18 lakh crore.

Pointing out that the first version of Advantage Assam held in 2018 had attracted investment proposals of around Rs 1.5 lakh crore and around Rs 70,000 crore of that had turned into reality in subsequent years, Mr Sarma said that Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), Adani Group and Vedanta Resources Limited (VRL) have promised to invest Rs 50,000 crore each in diverse sectors in the state ranging from power, hydrocarbons to hospitality while Tata Power also proposed an investment worth Rs 30,000 crore.

The central government also assured investments during the summit with union minister for road transport and highways, Nitin Gadkari announcing road and infrastructure projects valued at around Rs 55,000 crore and union shipping and ports minister Sarbananda Sonowal committing Rs 4,800 crore.

Mr Sarma said, “In order to ensure that these proposals turn into reality we will face challenges in allocating land, incentives and a good working environment to the investors. We hope to overcome them in coming days and months.”

Asserting that Assam has now transformed into a peaceful state where there’s stability, Mr Sarma said that the state will become a manufacturing hub for many things including semiconductor chips, hydrocarbons and green energy in coming years.

He also announced, “From next month, we will thoroughly discuss the MoUs. It (the total MoUs) has a potential of providing employment to 2 lakh youths, on a conservative note."

The chief minister asserted Assam will be in the next league of development over the next 5 years, even if it can implement 80 per cent of the signed MoUs.

He said, “I hope starting from the next financial year we will be able to talk to the companies who have signed MoUs here at Advantage Assam 2.0. We will start individual discussions with the companies about how to go about realising the investment on the ground, what kind of incentives they might need, and land they would need. We will sit down with them for preparing the preparatory roadmap over the next 6 months.”