PANJIM: The investment policy has been passed and the process is on to establish the Investment Promotion Board, however the general sentiment is that it will not be easy to get investments to Goa given the recent history of the state vis-à-vis parties interested in investing the state.
Blaise Costabir former President of Goa State Industries Association felt the system that was in place for a couple of years had ensured that investments had been reduced to a trickle. This was mainly due to the apathy of the bureaucracy. However now there was a buzz in the air.
He said “People believe that something good is going to happen”. The absence of any obvious activity by the government he said was not deliberate. The issues he said that were left behind by the previous government were very complex which had to be tackled before one could move ahead.
He said “I know I was involved in the process. One has to only look at the issue of power in the state. The politics behind it is crazy. I believe that the problem of power or rather the issue of shortage of power can be sorted out by charging the steel mills the correct rate. It is common knowledge that they steal electricity and they bribe their way around and essentially get away with it.”
He said he would charge them the correct rate and bill them for what they had used ensuring that their production cost which was kept low due to the tactics they employed would rise. This would force them to either buck up or leave the state.
Sources reveal that the average monthly consumption of steel mills was around 25 lakh units. The Goa government gives the steel mills a subsidy of Rs 2.50 per unit that amounts on an average to Rs 65 lakh a month for every mill.
Blaise felt with the exit of these mills there would be electricity for everyone and the problems which existed now would be a story of the past.
With regards to the availability of land Blaise said he was of the opinion that the government should take back all the land that was given to people during the SEZ experiment. This present discussion with regards to the percentage of land that could be retained by these parties were in his words meaningless given the fact that many of these parties had tried to cheat the government.
This would free up a lot of land and give hope to the several parties that had expressed their interest in investing in the state.
He said “There are parties who require as much as 10-20,000 sq mtrs but are stuck since there is no land available now.”
Taking back land he said had happened before with the state taking back approximately 90,000 sq mtrs of land from Margaret Alva in Shiroda. Blaise signed off by saying that the plans that have been designed for the state would see the light of day and that he was sure that Goa was destined for good times.
Manguirish Pai Raikar the immediate past President of GCCI however expressed caution saying that it was important that the mentality in the state would have to experience a sea change.
He said “when the Vice Chancellor of the University urges students to leave the state to find good jobs then it gives you an idea how bad the scenario is.”
The bureaucracy in the state he said take their time to clear proposals delaying projects and increasing costs. With regards to the ease of doing business Goa he said was not high on the list among states in the country.
There was he said between setting up a business and closing it down several steps where Goa did not rank very high. The investment policy he said was good but one had to get one’s house in order.
Another businessman who had come to Goa from Mumbai said the quality of life may be better but the hassles involved in running a business in Goa were too many. From getting trained personnel to the paucity of electricity and water which were serious problems, he said it would take considerable effort by all concerned across the board to convince investors to come in and invest in the state. Perhaps the truth may be somewhere in the middle and time will tell if this latest initiative met with any sucess.
