State needs 80,000 acres for new industries

Karnataka government has incurred an expenditure of Rs 29.20 crore for the recently concluded global investors’ meet (GIM) in Bangalore, minister for large and medium industries minister Murugesh R Nirani said.

Replying to members’ queries in the state legislative council, here on Wednesday, he said the department of industries and commerce was still scrutinising the bills and the exact amount of money spent for the mega event would be worked out later. During the event state signed MoUs for an investment of close to Rs 4 lakh crore on June 3 and June 4, 2010.

Out of Rs 29 crore spent on GIM, the state government had released Rs 14 crore and Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board had released Rs 10 crore and the balance Rs 5 crore was yet to be released by the government. The total expenditure incurred for advertisements released in national, state and district level newspapers by the department of industries and commerce was about Rs 3.5 crore. For advertisements released in international journals Rs 92 lakh was spent, he said.

Giving details of the projects cleared at the GIM, he said all the projects, if executed, would require about 80,000 acres land, 3,338 million litres of water per day and 3,893 Mw of power.

Apart from providing land, water and power, the proposed projects would be extended incentives and concessions as per the industrial policy of the state and policies of other departments. The government would make all efforts to provide early clearances from all the departments of the state, Nirani stated.

He said global investors’ meet was held twice in the state during the last 10 years and only 120 projects, cleared during the first GIM held in June 2000, have been implemented.

Replying to another question, he said during the last 10 years, the state has attracted Rs 30,675 crore worth of foreign direct investment into the state.