North East - Developments & Debate

NE industrial policy fails to attract investors

R Dutta ChoudhurY
GUWAHATI, July 1 – The North East Investment and Industrial Promotion Policy (NEIIPP) of 2007 failed to attract investments to the North East region to the desired extent and in 2009-10, the total investment intention in Assam was less than one per cent of the state which received highest investment.
Highly placed official sources told The Assam Tribune that a study to evaluate the impact of the policy was carried out and the report of the study clearly indicated that industrialization in the North East region was not progressing at the same pace as the rest of the country and the matter should be taken up in a more methodical and organized manner.

Sources revealed that the investors having proposal to invest more than Rs 10 crore and above on the plant and machinery have to register themselves with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion of the Ministry of Commerce to make their intention clear on investments. That was taken as the basis of the study as the concerned state governments are not maintaining the data base properly.

The report said that as per the records available with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, out of the eight states of the region, only five received investment intention and Assam received the highest number of such proposals. However, the investment intention received by Assam in 2008-09 was only 0.7 percent of the total investment proposed in the entire country and about 4 per cent of the proposals received by Madhya Pradesh, which ranked number one in the country that year.

The report revealed that on the following year, though the total investment intentions in the country recorded an increase, it reduced for Assam and the figure was 0.2 percent of the total investment intentions in the country and only 0.9 percent of the proposals received by the highest ranked state.

Of the North East States, Manipur received only a handful of proposals, while Nagaland did not receive any proposal up to 2010, the report said. Altogether 737 units were registered in Assam up to Match 31, 2010 generating employment for 28682 persons.

However, the report pointed out that the concerned state governments did not maintain the data properly and systematically and thus, details of units set up, investment and employment proposed etc are not available. The report suggested that data management is crucial for better policy implementation in the North east region. The report also suggested that in Assam and Meghalaya, the focus should be to attract large investments in large scale units from the multinational companies and national corporate houses.

AT

/\/\/\ Why would someone want to invest in a state that reeks of corruption, mired in red tape, and probably has the highest concentration of terrorist groups?

X posting

Centre Plans Rs 8,000 Crore Northeast India Highways



New Delhi, Oct 12 : The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is working on a Rs 8,000-crore plan that seeks to turn around the economy of India's north-eastern states by restoring, widening or building 1,500 km of highways.

This is the first time that highway construction in the region is being taken up on such scale with the specific agenda of boosting trade, despite security concerns that had held back development in the past, a senior official said requesting anonymity.

India's northeast, comprising seven states, shares boundaries with China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Mayanmar - countries which offer huge potential for two-way trade through the land route. The region is also seen as a gateway to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or Asean.

"Northeast India has the potential to transform India's trade trajectory with Asean nations," said Chandan Choubey, senior analyst (transportation & logistics) at KPMG Global Services.

Trade between India and the 10-nation Asean crossed Rs 2,50,000 crore in 2010-11.

The ministry's initiative to jump-start highway construction in the northeast follows the flak it received from the Lok Sabha's Committee on Estimates. In a report tabled in Parliament, the committee said most highway projects in the region have overrun their completion schedule.

Source

Centre to speed up NE road projects

NEW DELHI: Alarmed at the tardy progress of road construction work in the north-east coupled with poor work culture in the region, the Centre is planning to correct the imbalances on a war footing.

While Prime Minister's advisor T K A Nair is likely to review the progress of road projects in Shillong on Wednesday, the highways ministry has fast tracked monitoring and supervising the progress of under construction projects.

Ministry records show that between 2006-07 and 2011-12, only 892 km road under SARDP-NE (special road programme for the region) has been constructed, while the Centre has set an ambitious target to complete the construction of entire 2,900 km by March, 2015.

Plans are afoot to construct another 700 km in Arunachal Pradesh, and the timeline to complete the project is 2017.

Earlier in January, 2009, the Cabinet had approved setting up of a Project Management Unit (PMU), headed by an additional secretary rank engineer (ADG) with chief engineers, to handle state-wise projects. Though three engineers have been posted, the progress has been far from satisfactory.

"Anyone who is chosen for this work does not want to go to the north-east and everybody shows some problem or the other. How can there be monitoring of work unless senior engineers are on the spot?" asked a ministry official.

On Monday, highways minister C P Joshi wrote to the secretary to "expedite" the posting of three chief engineers to the north-east. "Since setting up of new offices will take some time, three chief engineers may start functioning immediately," Joshi wrote. He has also directed the secretary to put up a proposal regarding posting along with their jurisdiction.

Sources said that while the progress is good in Assam, the situation is worst in Arunachal Pradesh. "Contractors have taken advance, but they don't want to work citing various excuses. Land acquisition, defunct construction plants and insurgency are often shown as the major reasons for delay. Since state PWDs and Border Road Organization (BRO) are the implementing agencies, only constant monitoring can help progress of construction," said a ministry official.

RH Khan’s house raided by Vigilance wing
Staff reporter
GUWAHATI, Aug 2 – The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption wing of the Assam Police today conducted a raid in the house of RH Khan, the prime accused in the multi-crore fund diversion scam in NC Hills District Autonomous Council (now Dima Hasao).

The sleuths recovered a number of ‘incriminating’ documents from Khan’s residence located at By Lane No 2 of city’s Tarun Nagar area.

The anti-corruption wing began the search in the house of the suspended Joint Director of the Social Welfare department around 9 am. The search continued till late afternoon.

RH Khan’s house was raided earlier too by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The 15-member team of the Anti-Corruption wing was led by Superintendent of Police Raunak Ali Hazarika.

Valuations of items found in Khan’s residence during the raid will also be done, a list of which will be submitted before the Court, official sources said.

Khan, currently lodged in the Guwahati Central Jail, was arrested in 2009 after it came to the light that funds meant for development activities were diverted towards militant activities in the NC Hills district.

The scam was investigated by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) and it had also filed a chargesheet in connection with this case.

The case was later handed over to the CBI which arrested Khan. Subsequently, a series of raids were conducted in various locations including the residences of Khan.

AT

Demand for review of Bodo Accord
Staff reporter
GUWAHATI, Aug 2 – Several organisations including the O-Boro (non-Boro) Surakshya Samiti, today told Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi that formation of the BTC under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution was a Himalayan blunder.

In a memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister at his office chamber here, these organisations also placed the demand for reviewing the Bodo Accord and evolving an alternative to the Bodo autonomy issue.

The organisations explained in detail as to how the 2003 Bodo Accord has created a favourable condition for permanent ethnic clashes in Lower Assam districts and the Chief Minister talked to the delegation of the organisations for about 45 minutes.

The members of the delegation told the Chief Minister that permanent peace could not be established in the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District (BTAD) areas through mere administrative measures and speeches of the political leaders. Because, the Bodo Accord has provided political encouragement to the Bodo chauvinist forces to launch ethnic cleansing drives.

The Accord was signed without taking into confidence the people of the other ethnic groups living in the BTAD areas, said the delegation members. They also told the Chief Minister that the inmates of the relief camps have been facing inhuman condition.

The delegation included Jogesh Kalita, Purnakanta Mahanta, Nagen Deka and Dilowar Islam of the O-Boro Surakshya Samiti, Dibyajyoti Barua, Kalidas Baishya and Saddam Hussain of the Sachetan Gana Mancha, Brajen Mahanta of the Janagosthiya Sangram Samiti and former URMCA president Hareswar Barman, said a press release here.

AT

17 injured as police cane mob at Borkhola PS
Correspondent
SILCHAR, Aug 2 – Atleast 17 people, including two police personnel were injured after police lathicharge on a mob after they ghareaod the Borkhola Police Station demanding the whereabouts of one Muslim Uddin, a businessman of Balachara tea garden area. Police also recovered 25 batons and three knives.

According to sources, one Muslim Uddin was missing from Borkhola area from July 28 night which resulted in tense situation in the area. People of the nearby area gathered at the Borkhola PS on July 29 to enquire about the whereabouts of the missing person and investigation done by the police. Later, heated argument took place at the police station following which police had to resort to lathicharge to bring the situation under control.

Sources said that Muslim Uddin went to Durgapur on business purpose and before his disapperance he had talked with his family members and said he was in Borkhola market. After the phone call he went missing and the family members did not receive any call. The matter was informed to the officials of Borkhola Police Station, but they did not respond.

Finding no other options, the local public gathered at the police station and also raised the issue of Gaouri Malakar, who was brutally killed in Borkhola where the police allegedly failed to take necessary steps.

Later, NK Das, officer in-charge of Borkhola Police Station said that some people from the gathering came to the police station with an evil intention. The main motive of those persons was to create trouble in the police station so that panic ky situation prevails in the area. The missing case is under investigation and public has to cooperate with the police in tracing him out, the official said.

AT

Lack of contractors hitting northeast projects: ADB

Shillong, Aug 9 (IANS): The biggest hurdle in implementing infrastructure projects in the northeastern States is the lack of competent contractors, an Asian Development Bank (ADB) official said on Wednesday.

"One of the biggest challenges for the region is to attract big construction companies to complete the projects within a time-frame," Hun Kim, ADB's country director for India, said.

The bank is funding the Northeast Capital Cities Development Investment Programme in Agartala, Aizawl, Kohima, Gangtok and Shillong. The $200,000 project was sanctioned in 2009.

In Assam, the bank has funded close to $1 billion. One of the projects is Assam's Power Sector Enhancement Investment Programme (facility concept), where the bank approved $200,000 in 2009.

Hun was here to discuss issues and challenges in developing and executing infrastructure of projects in the landlocked region.

The meeting was also attended by officials of the central government, states, World Bank, International Finance Corporation and International Fund for Agricultural Development.

"We need competent contractors. But because of the geographical location of the region and distance, it is difficult to attract competent contractors to the region," Hun said.

Moreover, he said factors such as the hostile terrain and scarcity of human resources and contribution of the states towards the projects were some of the other challenges.

However, he said multilateral developmental agencies, including the ADB, were constantly trying to build capacity of the project states to help bring in competent contractors for the ongoing projects.

He said externally-aided projects was a new phenomenon for the region and only during the past five years, multilateral developmental agencies entered the region largely with the assistance of the central government.

Hun said that once the region's infrastructure was developed, it would help build a favourable investment climate, which would eventually lead to overall development of the region.

/\/\/\ Why would private companies send their resources to a region infested with 25 terrorist groups, get kidnapped, pay extortion money? Our leaders can't see that it is terrorism that is hindering the development of the region. There seems to be no urgency in settling the decade old issues.

The part in bold - I don't see the effects on the ground. Barak Valley has as many as 13 hrs of power cuts everyday, and I'm talking about towns, not villages.

Law needed on rainwater harvesting
AJIT PATOWARY
GUWAHATI, Aug 8 – Guwahati needs a stringent legislation for rainwater harvesting to save it from rain-caused flash flood. In this respect the city should emulate the example of the Chennai city.

This observation was made by noted drainage and sanitation expert Dr Binoy Kumar Das. He was speaking to The Assam Tribune.

Dr Das, who was one of the key persons in preparing the 1971 drainage master plan of Guwahati, also called for sincere steps to implement the said legislation in letter and spirit. There should be a strong determination at the highest level of the administration, he said.

The amount of rainwater which cannot be harvested should be channelized for recharge of the groundwater table.

These steps will not only save Guwahati from flash flood but will also strengthen its groundwater table and will thus improve the drinking water availability position in the city, which is getting its groundwater table sinking at a fast rate due to reckless exploitation of groundwater.

The Tamil Nadu Government has demonstrated the political will to enact a piece of legislation for harvesting rainwater in Chennai. Moreover, within a year, it implemented this legislation thoroughly for all private and Government buildings.

Can the Assam Government demonstrate such a political will to save Guwahati from flash flood, asked Dr Das.

It needs mention here that as per the figures available with the India Meteorology Department (IMD), Guwahati (Borjhar Airport) receives a total rainfall of 11.8 mm during January, 17.2 mm of rainfall during February, 55.1 mm during March, 147 mm during April, 248.9 mm during May, 316.8 mm during June, 351.2 mm during July, 269.4 mm during August, 187 mm during September, 90.9 mm during October, 18.5 mm during November and 7.3 mm during December.

The above rainfall figures have been worked out on the basis of the city’s 1951-2000 rainfall data.

The BTAD and and these riots are a blessing in disguise for Western Assam.Most Bangladeshis will not be able to settle areas where bodos reside.This will cause emigration out of a very critical region

ONGC’s 1st Power Project in Tripura to Start Generation This Month

The 726 MW first commercial power plant of state-owned ONGC at Palatana in southern Tripura will start generating electricity this month-end, company officials said here Monday. ONGC, the Tripura government and infrastructure and financial service company IL&FS have jointly floated the ONGC-Tripura Power Company Limited (OTPC). The plant will help ONGC to monetise its huge gas reserves and assets in Tripura.

“Last month, we successfully conducted pre-trial runs of the entire plant twice. The first unit (363 mw) of the project would go for production of electricity by September end followed by the second unit (363 mw) by this year end or early next year,” said Mukul Banerjee, general manager, OTPC. ”Already a 400-kv high transmission power line has been drawn up to Silchar in southern Assam from Palatana to connect with the Bongaigaon national grid in western Assam to transmit electricity to various northeastern states,” he added.

Also, the project is a hallmark of cooperation between India and Bangladesh, which ensured smooth passage of the heavy project equipment and turbines to Palatana through its territory by water ways from Haldia port in West Bengal. The Bangladesh government has sought electricity from the project, a Tripura government official said. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had laid the foundation stone of the project in October 2005.

The state-run North East Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) is also commissioning another gas-based power project of 104 MW at Monarchak in western Tripura. According to NEEPCO chairman-cum-managing director, P. C. Pankaj, who visited Tripura last week, the project would start generating electricity by July next year.

Major railway projects in NE delayed
Spl CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, Sept 7 – All major railway projects in the North-east including the much-hyped national projects have suffered cost and time over-runs.
A status report on the mega rail projects tabled in the Rajya Sabha by Minister of State for Railways, Bharatsinh Solanki in reply to a question by Biren Baishya revealed that all national projects including Bogibeel-rail-cum-road-bridge, Rangia-Murkongselek and Lumding-Silchar Gauge conversion projects have suffered delays.

The status report said that 17 major projects have slipped deadlines. Some of the projects were sanctioned almost a decade back but are yet to be completed. The Dudhnoi-Mendipathar Project was sanctioned in 1992-1993 and the project is now targeted for completion in March 2013. The earthwork, bridges and track work are in advance stages of execution, the report said.

The much-delayed Lumding-Silchar Project has been affected due to militant activities. Earthwork, bridge work and tunnelling have been taken up all along the alignment.

The Railways have sanctioned Rs 400 crore in the current year’s budget, the report said.

The fate of the six national projects hangs in balance and in case of some projects like the Dimapur-Kohima (Zubza) Project sanctioned in 2006-2007, final location survey has been completed , while approval of alignment is pending with the State Government.

The Bogibeel Project, sanctioned in 1997-1998, another national project has missed its deadline and is now scheduled for completion in December 2015. The work of construction of embankment, major and minor bridges has been completed in north and south bank. The 44 Km Moranhat-Chalkhowa in south bank has been completed and commissioned, and contract for main bridge superstructure awarded, the status report said.

A couple of other projects are scheduled to be completed by 2014-2015. The Teteliya-Byrnihat Project, a national project was examined as alternate alignment to Azara-Byrnihat. Entire land has been acquired, in Assam portion he said.

The final location survey including staking of alignment on ground of the Bhariabi-Sairang Project has been completed and is scheduled to be completed by March 2015, the report said.

^^^^^ why this projects are running late . doesn`t minister gave reason for it

The report says 'militant activities'.