Guwahati, Feb 20: Assam is eyeing investments and infrastructure projects worth over Rs 1.50 lakh crore at the two-day Advantage Assam-2 summit next week, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced here on Thursday.
“We are looking at investments to the tune of over Rs one lakh crore, excluding what the top industrialists might announce at the summit. However, we want to ensure that all prospective investments are real, for which the state Cabinet will meet on February 23 and approve after thorough scrutiny,” Sarma said while addressing a media conference.
The chief minister said as many as 1512 requests for MoUs have come and the same would be examined to ensure their feasibility during the Cabinet meeting.
“The proposals are interesting and have come across sectors such as sustainable aviation fuel, university, medical colleges, hospitals, power projects, both conventional and non-conventional, etc,” he said.
“Besides investments, we are eyeing infrastructure worth over Rs 50,000 crore from the central government alone. There will also be proposals from private entities to look at,” the chief minister said.
The chief minister informed that high level business delegations from Singapore, Korea, Thailand, Japan and Bhutan have confirmed participation at the summit even as there could be more foreign delegations joining in.
Stating that a roadmap for the Advantage Assam-2 summit has been prepared, he further said that a special aircraft has been allocated by the Prime Minister’s Office to bring 35 heads of diplomatic missions led by India’s external affairs minister S Jaishankar to the summit.
“The number of diplomats is likely to go up to 50 and the fact that the external affairs minister will be leading them is unprecedented. The delegates will visit Kaziranga on February 23, followed by the massive cultural spectacle as thousands of jhumur artists from 27 districts of Assam will perform at Sarusajai Stadium on February 24. On February 25, they will take part in the Advantage Assam-2 summit,” the chief minister said.
The heads of missions would represent Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Colombia, Cuba, Funland, Germany, Guyana, Iceland, Israel, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Australia, among other countries.
Thematic sessions will also be held to explore Assam’s potential.
“The majority of the audience will be students, start-up entrepreneurs, etc, and the sessions would cover themes such as Assam tea’s challenges from a global perspective, MSMEs, tourism, health, bio policy, start-up ecosystem, advanced semiconductor ecosystem, space and geospatial sectors, real estate and urban infrastructure, agar wood and its derivatives, among others,” Sarma said.