Sunday, Jul 07, 2002
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Tamil Nadu-Chennai
By Our Special Correspondent
The world over economic development took place around major cities, which offered advantages including ports and airports, he said. ``Chennai has a phenomenal advantage over Bangalore and Hyderabad in parameters like the cost of doing business, social infrastructure and labour markets'', which needed to be leveraged. Participating in a seminar on ``Tamil Nadu - More than Opportunities'', organised here by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Mr Munjee said priority attention should be given to the problems of urban transportation, water and social infrastructure and the possibility of developing a special economic zone in the city itself. He cited the example of Maharashtra, which was set to exploit the potential of the New Mumbai-Pune-Nasik triangle and the locational advantage NOIDA, with its proximity to Delhi, offered to investors. Mr. Munjee also called for ``clear ownership of local bodies (whereby the role and powers of city government are assured, as distinct from that of the State) and efficient governance of cities'' as a prerequisite for transformation of urban infrastructure. Mr Pradeep Singh (Infrastructure Leasing and Finance Co) said that on the one hand there were projects which badly needed funding and, on the other, there was capital in search of investment opportunities. The task lay in bringing these two together in a viable form, which did not necessarily mean either total private sector investment or total government funding. The reform in the infrastructure sector was ``driven not by the bankruptcy of governments but by the efficiency of the private sector''. The financing/tariff structure of projects should take into account not only the financial internal rate of return (FIRR) but also the economic internal rate of return (EIRR, viz, benefits accruing to the economy as a whole and not merely to direct users of the facility). The concept of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) should be pursued with determination and not as mere rhetoric.
Poised for development
The Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary, Sukhavaneshwar, said the State was well placed to `leapfrog' in industrial development in the next few years. Apart from the pro-active policies of the Government, the State had a diversified infrastructure and a comfortable power position. Replying to questions, he said wind farm operators, who had fallow land because of legal restrictions on cultivation, could surrender it and take up wasteland development in the same place under the new policy unveiled by the Government. Madhavan Nambiar, Chairman and Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation, outlined the investment opportunities in a wide range of sectors from IT and biotechnology to food processing and pharmaceuticals.
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