No wrong signal from Cogentrix pullout: Krishna

DAVOS, JAN. 31. The Karnataka Chief Minister, Mr. S. M. Krishna, today said that his Government was willing to pay ``any price'' to maintain transparency in business dealings and asserted that the pullout of the Cogentrix company from the Mangalore power project had not sent any ``wrong signal'' to foreign investors.

``My government will ensure that selection of who is going to do what (regarding projects) is done in a very transparent manner. We are willing to pay any price for that,'' Mr. Krishna said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meeting here.

The Chief Minister made a detailed presentation on ``Karnataka: creating a new gateway to growth'' before a select gathering of business executives in a bid to promote the State as a top investment destination.

A series of IT-related initiatives, opening up of infrastructure and key sectors for the private sector, simplification of procedures were among the features highlighted by Mr. Krishna during the session. He said aircraft building, ship building and port development were among the major sectors in which the State Government was actively seeking foreign investment.

In infrastructure, he said investments up to $ one billion was expected in the next five years.

Referring to the quitting of Cogentrix, he said the international business community would not decide whether a particular State was investor-friendly or not by virtue of one single project.``The international community is shrewd enough to analyse the reasons for the project not coming up.'' He said Cogentrix's Hong Kong partner, China Light and Power Company, ``wanted to pursue'' the project stalled for a few years.

Stating that Karnataka was a ``fertile destination'' for foreign investments, Mr. Krishna said global investors were ``excited'' about the State.

An independent expert group would soon be asked to work out details of privatisation of power distribution in the State. ``We are going to offer power distribution tenders in a very transparent manner so that the best and cost-effective system is available to us,'' the Chief Minister said.

- PTI

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Section  : International
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