The Hindu Business Line : Bengal identifies land for greenfield projects

Areas of growth Employment potential seen in manufacturing, SMEs. Knowledge-based industries and biotechnology had scope to flourish in the State.

Kolkata , June 1

The seventh Left Front Government in West Bengal has identified about 40,000 acres of land in the State for prospective investors willing to set up greenfield projects.

Announcing this here on Thursday, the State's Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, said, "We have to take a balanced view in the area of fresh investment between agriculture and industry."

Although the State is strong in agriculture and presently has a surplus rice production, it has been able to achieve four per cent growth in agriculture against the national average growth of two per cent in 2005-06.

As it is considered a priority area, the State Government has decided to set up an "Agricultural Commission" under the guidance of Dr M.S. Swaminathan. The commission will give new direction to the development of this sector.

Plans for BPL

Speaking at a function organised by FICCI and its associated chambers of commerce in the city to felicitate him for being re-appointed as Chief Minister, Mr Bhattacharjee said that although some major investment proposals in the State had been firmed up in the last fortnight, the Government had plans to help all people who were below the poverty line.

He said that people living in about 4,500 villages of the total 38,000 villages in the State, were poorest of the poor.

"We will thus implement a new scheme to improve their livelihood. In fact, I will personally supervise the scheme," he said.

As part of the government's new policies, those who will take up manufacturing activities as well as to help develop small & medium scale industries would be encouraged because of the employment generation potential.

Equally, knowledge-based industries and biotechnology had scope to flourish in the State, he felt.

Corporates lining up

The Chief Minister said the Tatas had finalised a plan to set up a small car project at Singur in Hooghly district. He however wondered how a car could be sold at a price of Rs 1 lakh.

He was also a trifle worried that widespread use of the small car could aggravate traffic jams in the city.

The Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Group was keen on investing in a big retail chain, while the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group had finalised a plan to set up an IT Institute at Kalyani in Nadia district.

Although the Sajjan Jindal group was compelled to go to Jharkhand for setting up a greenfield steel project because of proximity to iron ore mine, this group has now decided to set up a down-stream steel project at Khargapur in Mindnapore district.

Mr Bhatacharjee further said that the Videocon Group would set up a manufacturing facility for latest model TV sets.

While China had finalised an investment plan for a super thermal power plant at Sagardighi in Murshidabad district, Mitsubishi Corporation had informed the State that they would make a fresh investment of about Rs 1,600 crore for expansion of the existing petrochemical project at Haldia.

Petro hub

This apart, the Chief Minister said that fresh proposals had been received from the Union Ministry of Chemicals and an US company to set up a petrochemical hub at Haldia.

The government hads endorsed investment proposals for setting up two new on-shore ports at Kulpi and Sagar and a deep-sea ports at Bay of Bengal.

A proposal had been submitted to the Planning Commission for a new international airport, which may be built and managed by private investors, he said.

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