TEAM HERALD

teamherald@herald-goa.com

PANJIM: The much awaited draft of Goa Industrial-Investment Policy 2013-18, is scheduled to be submitted to the State government on August 14 for scrutiny following which it will be open to the public for suggestions.

The draft policy would be handed over to Industries Minister Mahadev Naik. After examination it will be placed in the public domain for feedback for one month.

Chairman of the Task Force appointed to draft the policy Atul Pai Kane said that the draft is almost ready and before handing it over to the government, a final meeting would be conveyed with Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, this week.

“By August 10, the final draft would be ready and the same would be handed over to Industries Minister on August 14,” he said.

Kane said that the main thrust of the policy is to create sustainable employment for locals and revenue generation to the state, by attracting environment friendly industries. It seeks investment in the high-end manufacturing, R&D sector, high end tourism, education and healthcare while improving the environmental and social indicators of the state.

As on now, in the absence of a clear cut industrial policy, the State government’s efforts seem to be non-starters and as per reports not a single big industry was set up set up shop in the state in the first quarter of the current fiscal.

The high powered coordination committee (HPCC) of the industries department, headed by chief minister cleared five expansion projects between April-June with a total investment of Rs 129.33 crore.

In 2012-13, Goa was able to attract just two new large scale projects with total investment of Rs 68.46 crore.