Infrastructure development is key to Maharashtra's growth: Fadnavis

Newly-elected chief minister said his office is reviewing critical infrastructure projects on a daily basis

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said infrastructure development and the ease of doing of business are keys to growth in Maharashtra, while promising to bring down the number of permissions needed to start an enterprise.

"If India has to grow at 8 per cent, my state has to grow beyond 10 per cent. To achieve that, we have to develop infrastructure and improve the ease of doing business," Fadnavis said at ET Awards function here late last evening.

The newly chief minister said his office is reviewing critical infrastructure projects on a daily basis and also announced a slew of initiatives to make doing business easier.

He said his government is working on a project to reduce the time taken to start a new business to around 3 months by reducing the number of permissions required from 76 at present, to 25.

Moreover, all work would be streamlined and done online to save more time, he said.

The government has also decided to appoint a dedicated facilitator to work as a relationship manager for every project entailing an investment of over Rs 100 crore.

Fadnavis said construction of houses and commercial space is very essential to deliver growth and added that his government is working on a scheme to reduce the time taken for permissions on this front from 180 days at present, to a mere 30 days.

On the infrastructure for Mumbai, which the government intends to develop as a global financial hub, Fadnavis said that work on multiple infrastructure projects is on and his government expects some progress shortly.