State eyes $1 billion private investment in 10 years

SHILLONG, March 14: The Meghalaya government has set for itself an ambitious target of attracting private investments of $1 billion over the next 10 years to take the economy of the state forward and to realize the dream of a $10-billion economy.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday said the state government is looking to combine the Centre’s North East Industrial Policy (NEIP) and the state’s own Meghalaya Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy (MIIPP), 2024, to achieve this dream of a $10-billion economy.
Sangma said that as per calculations they will require a minimum of $1 billion in terms of private investment in order to achieve the target of a $10-billion economy.
“We have created different incentives to achieve this $1 billion minimum investment in the private sector. We are expecting to touch that number in the coming ten years,” he said.
According to him, they are expecting the $1 billion investment through two policies in the next 10 years time since the companies will apply and the investment of money will flow through these next 10 years.
He said that the state will be roughly spending and budgeting about close to Rs 700 crore to be provided as incentives to the private companies who express interest in investing in Meghalaya.
Sangma also said that the Centre has earmarked close to Rs 600 crore for Meghalaya in terms of its share from the NEIP.
He said the government has received positive response from the different sectors and MoUs worth about Rs 2,957 crore have been signed at various levels.
The CM said as many as eight MoUs had been inked in the past one week in various sectors like tourism, food processing, technology, pharmaceuticals and beverages.
One of the MoUs will be signed with Varun Beverages, which is the holding company that runs the Pepsi plants all over the country.
Pepsi will invest roughly around Rs 1,800 crore to set up a plant for supply of Pepsi and other products in Meghalaya, as well as in other parts of the country, especially North Bengal, he said.
He said he will be visiting Mendipathar on Friday to officially handover the selected land to Varun Beverages on long-term lease basis and are expecting the plant to be commissioned within 12-18 months.
The second MoU will be signed with Northeast United Football Club (NEUFC) for setting up a residential football academy at Mawkhanu in New Shillong Township.
NEUFC owner and Bollywood actor John Abraham has visited the site which the government has proposed for the residential academy, he said.
Sangma also denied allegations that illegal activities like extortion had prevented private investment in the state and said that lack of a proper ecosystem and inadequate support and confidence building measures for the investors kept the state behind.
“We have not taken lightly the issue of extortion. We have been very, very aggressive. And our message to everybody is that we are not going to take it lightly. We are going to take every measure to ensure that law and order is maintained,” the CM said.