Bihar cancels investment proposals worth Rs 2.25 lakh cr

In a major move, Bihar has today cancelled investment proposals worth more than Rs. 2.25 lakh crore in a move to root out non-serious or overly delayed investment proposals. All of these proposals were to set up coal based thermal power plant in Bihar.

State government's cabinet sub-committee on industrial growth has today to cancel government's approvals for these proposals. "We have been trying our best for the industrialisation of the state," said Industrial Development Commissioner Naveen Verma, "and for that we have set up a State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB), which ensures quick approvals of the investment proposals. However, during the period of 2007-12, many non serious investment proposals had also been approved, which exaggerated the amount of total investment. Therefore, we have decided to delist these 33 coal based power-projects, which we found to be non-serious in nature.

They have been riddled with problems ranging from land crunch to non-allocation of coal-linkage. This will de-congest the investment landscape as it will bring down the proposed investment in the state by Rs 2.25 lakh crore. It's major step, which will present a truer picture about the investment climate of the state." Till date, the SIPB has approved investment proposals worth Rs 2.84 lakh crores.

However, projects worth only Rs 7,500 crores actually came on the ground in last 8 years. With this hair-cut, the total proposed investment in the state would be reduced to almost Rs 60,000 crores.

"Till date, 272 units have come in production, while work is in progress on other 176 units. These projects created employment opportunity for thousands of people. However, this achievement hides under the shadow of Rs. 3 lakh crores. Therefore, we have decided to check out non serious investors. We have initiated the process a long time ago and already delisted investment proposals worth 40,000 crore." said Verma.

Furthermore, the state government is also planning to delist investment proposals received to set-up solar based power projects in Bihar. "A total of 50 proposals for solar power plants have been received by the SIPB in recent years. However, not a single unit has come in production. Hence, we have decided to review the viability of these projects on a case-by-case basis," said Verma. A total of almost Rs. 18,000 crore is proposed in this area, but due to land problem and lack of clear policy, no proposal have moved out of the files in last 7 years.

The state government has also decided to set-up an industrial city on the sidelines of the Amritsar-Kolkata Freight Corridor. The state government has ordered its officials to identify and acquire more than 2,500 acres of land for this proposed city, which will most likely to be set-up between Gaya and Aurangabad districts of Bihar.