By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The State has a potential of about Rs 4000 crore of investment from investors from outside the North Eastern region.
This was stated by Dr Rajeev Singh, Director General of the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) at an investors’ meet organised by the ICC and the Union DoNER Ministry in the city on Friday.
“There are many potential investors who are eager to make an investment in the State in various major sectors,” Dr Singh said while speaking to reporters on the sideline of the investors’ meet.
Replying to a query, he said investors were interested in investing in the power, cement, mining and hotel industries in the State.
“The major problem that they are currently facing in the region is land acquisition and power. The problem of land acquisition is prevailing everywhere in the country. Even in Bengal we are facing difficulty in acquiring land for any major investment,” Dr Singh said.
The ICC head, however, mentioned that law and order problem was no longer an issue in the State.
“The incentive policy is the same in every state in the country. Everything depends on how pro-active the Government is with regards to attracting investors,” Dr Singh added.
In view of the huge response from the investors, the ICC has decided to bring the investors to the various states of the region to oversee the ground realities.
Besides holding meetings with the State Government officials, Dr Singh said ICC is also trying to arrange for an interaction between the potential investors and investors from within the State.
“Through this exercise, we want the potential investors to have an in-depth information of the area where they seek to make investment,” he said.
After Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Assam and Tripura, Dr Singh said that this is the sixth similar exercise being held in Meghalaya where the potential investors would be having an interaction not only with the Government but also with investors from within the State. He however said that since the North East Business Summit in 2001, the ICC has managed to bring in a total of Rs 6900 crore of investment into the region.
“We are tying to bring in another Rs 7000 crore of outside investment to the region,” Dr Singh added.