In various little and not so little ways, it is increasingly getting clear that this government will be forced to be very different from the previous one. The difference between a BJP government and a BJP-led government is gradually getting felt in some manners of decision-making. In a sense this isn’t a bad thing since positions earlier maintained on some issues and institutions are undergoing a change.
The decision to review projects cleared by the Investment Promotion Board, is actually a giant leap from the earlier environment – of not actually a stated position – that once the IPB cleared a project, it was assumed that other bodies, mainly the Pollution Control Board would follow suit. The only exception being the controversial marina projects, which are currently in limbo following opposition from the locals. The Rs 450 crore projects were initially refused permission by the Goa State Bio-diversity Board and Goa State Pollution Control Board.
Now in a submission to the High Court the government, as a respondent in a petition, has taken the position that the renamed Investment Promotion and Facilitation Board (IPFB) “is not the final authority” to clear projects. While that was always the case, a specific clarification in the High Court, in response to a petition is a serious statement of intent.
The decision to review all projects, assumes significance in the wake of approvals granted to certain projects and the overall pattern of approvals being laden towards hospitality/ resort projects. The petition in the High Court, to which the government has responded, was filed by the Pilerne Citizens Forum against approvals granted to Ozone Leisure Resorts Private Ltd and the Vani Agro beer and alcohol factory at Amdai in Sanguem.
62 projects with a total investment of Rs 5,231 crore were been cleared (as of beginning 2017) of which 15 projects worth Rs 885 crore in investment, were cleared in one meeting in December 2016.
The need to review is mainly because some projects like the Vani Agro beer project, a red category project has been cleared, while there are still others which do not quite fall under the mandate of the IPB. Importantly 32 out of 62, a shade over 50% of the cleared projects are actually project expansions and not new projects.
The is also clear evidence that the majority of the approvals have been for eco-resort and hotel projects and not manufacturing industries. A wedding destination and eco-resort called “The Theatre of Dreams” at Quepem, another eco-resort in Quepem, a 60-room luxury resort in Bardez have been cleared. Meanwhile, five-star service apartments, a convention centre and hotel in Mandrem, a 7-Star luxury resort, again in Mandrem, a three-star hotel in Calangute and a restaurant in Calangute, are all a part of the proposal and/or approved list. Even a sports goods store project has gone to IPFB.
The review of projects needs to factor in the kind of projects that have been approved. There is a need to look at the categories closely and weed out proposals which are alien to the mandate and charter of the Investment Promotion Act.
Importantly the presence of Vijai Sardesai, Rohan Khaunte and Vishwajit Rane, three very stringent opponents of the IPB, in the Parrikar cabinet, will dictate the government’s next steps on the way the IPFB needs to function. The overriding role that the Investment Board had assumed or assigned to itself, without any checks, will have to be curtailed in the new role alteration necessitated by an alliance government.
