Date:27/10/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/10/27/stories/2007102759090700.htm

National

50,000-cr. Reliance power project for M.P.

Staff Correspondent

Global Investors’ Summit begins in Indore; four MoUs signed on Day One of the meeting

Photo: PTI

Power boost: Reliance Energy Limited representative J.P. Chalsani (left) exchanging papers with Madhya Pradesh Commerce and Industries Department Principal Secretary Avni Vaish (right) after signing an MoU. Chief Minister S. S. Chauhan and Anil D. Ambani look on.

INDORE: The tone for the Global Investors’ Summit -2007 was set with the signing of four MoUs, including one between Reliance Energy Limited and the State Government for setting up a mega 3960 MW power project in Sidhi district. The Reliance MoU assures an investment of Rs. 50,000 crore.

Inaugurating the summit here on Friday, the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, reaffirmed his commitment to put the State on the fast track of development and said that as Chief Minister he was also the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of the State.

He said Madhya Pradesh could not develop in the past due to poor infrastructure. There was shortage of electricity and the national highways were in a bad state, he said, adding that his Government was building new roads and had decided to mobilise its own resources to maintain the national highways as the Union Government had stopped sending funds for this purpose.

Mr. Chauhan said the State had built the capacity to generate 2990 MW power in a span of 60 years but in the last three years, the generation had gone up by additional 2250 MW.

The Chief Minister said the State Government had amended its Industrial Promotion policy to make it investor-friendly. He was ready to alter policies to suit the requirements. The Government would take steps to rationalise rules and address the issue of multiplicity of taxes, he assured the delegates.

Mr. Chauhan said the State Government wanted to build infrastructure that would meet global standards. He urged the captains of industry to set up technical institutes to train local manpower.

Emphasising that MoUs should get implemented on the ground, Mr. Chauhan said MoUs worth Rs. 30,000 crore that were signed recently were in the implementation stage. He sought cooperation of investors in taking the State forward on the path of development and said, “If the investors were ready to take four steps forward, we were willing to walk much faster.”

Addressing the delegates, Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group chairman Anil Ambani praised the Chief Minister for his “dedication and commitment” and said he had come to attend the summit after taking the blessings of Lord Mahakal on Friday morning. Now he would seek the support of the State Government.

He said they were focusing in the area of energy and were committed to doubling the State’s power generation capacity in the next few years and the State was bound to emerge as the leading energy State.

Another core sector they are focusing on is communication. In the next six months, 90 per cent of towns in the State with a population of 1,000 and nearly all villages will have access to wireless communication, both mobile and mobile broadband, Mr. Ambani announced, adding that 90 per cent of the railways and national highways would also be covered by their network.

They would be taking a significant initiative in education, Mr. Ambani said, adding that this would not be with a profit motive.

He announced that they would set up a large education campus in the vicinity of Bhopal. This would be their second institute on the same lines as the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology at Gandhinagar in Gujarat.

Besides the MoU signed between the State Government and Reliance Energy, three more MoUs were signed on Friday.

These are for investment of Rs.1,200 crore by ACC for a new cement plant in Katni district, a Rs.5,000-crore investment by Sanghi Industries Limited, Hyderabad, for an industrial complex in Katni/Satna districts and Rs.1200-crore Birla Corporation Limited’s 3 million tonne cement plant at Satna.

The State Minister for PWD and Information Technology, Kailash Vijayvargiya, proposed a vote of thanks. The Investors’ Summit is being attended by 525 delegates. More than 100 of them are from abroad.