PANJIM: The year 2015 commenced with much hope. The Investment Promotion Board was slowly falling into place and the interviews of the candidates for the post for CEO of the Investment Policy were being conducted and eventually a suitable candidate was identified. It was another matter that the person finalised for the job, took charge in November. As the year ends the Herald looked at what had been achieved by the IPB in terms of investments.
Ashton Godinho, CEO IPB said “A meeting was held earlier this month on the 14th and proposals worth Rs 1000 crore were cleared at the meeting. The proposals were from the manufacturing, hospitality and education sectors.”
Asked about the job potential of the proposals cleared, he said it was expected to generate around 2023 jobs. With regards to MRF project in the state he said the process of notification of investment promotion area status would be done by January. The other projects mentioned would be completed in the next couple of months. Asked what was being done to track the progress of projects cleared, he said a system was now in place to track the progress as well sort out issues if files were stuck in the system. Every fifteen days a meeting was held to discuss issues.
Another member involved in the entire process but not keen on coming on record said approximately Rs 3000 crore of direct investment was expected and it was important this was would result in business being generated by the presence of these primary business. He said it was important to remember that these proposals were cleared in 5 months and not in a year because in the early half of the year not much really happened.
The source who is a senior business executive said “I would calculate it at three times Rs 3000 crore so the benefit to the local business sector would be approximately Rs 9000 crore.”
He however felt it was important for the government to sensitize the bureaucracy and more importantly appoint satellite consultants which had not happened as yet. He said “We need technical expertise to verify proposals that we receive. We may not have the time to do this day and day out and it is important to remember that we have our business responsibilities.”
Asked if the monies promised in the proposals would come through, he smiled and said “It’s business, these people have spent time and money to create these proposals and well if they don’t bring the money, the clearances will be null and void”. Asked how many projects had been cleared during the course of the year and before the appointment of the CEO he said “63 projects were cleared, we know the status and we are aware as to what is happening. I think we have reached Rs 10,000 crore in terms of investments received though I am not sure”.
It’s been a tough year for the state, with not much really going its way. However now with these investments confirmed, perhaps the first hint of light at the end of a very long tunnel is visible.
