Attracting investment Achuthananthan way

Chief Minister V S Achuthananthan is certainly not a Budhdhadeb Bhattacharya when it comes to putting his state on the fast track of development and private participation in industry.

According to him, there is a gap of 30 years between the Left in Bengal and the LDF government in Kerala. Hence, don't even compare. That is what he says.

"They have been there for 30 years and are building on what is already there. But for us in Kerala our contributions are like the mud houses children build in the garden only to be removed each time by irritated parents. So whatever we do in five years is undone by the next government in the next five years,'' he says.

But in spite of this handicap, Achuthananthan pleads for one year before anyone writes him off. "Give me one year and then you see the changes," he told Business Standard during his recent trip to Delhi.

Achuthananthan, whose government completed 50 days in power this month, says the groundwork is being done to attract investments from everywhere.

An investment commission itself has been set up which has put in place single window clearance for all proposals of investment.

"IT majors like Infosys and US Technology have come and met me and expressed interest in investment in the sector. Once there is a facility, we expect them to be here," he said.

Achuthananthan rules out any desperate bid to woo investors. Foreign trips are ruled out. "There are no plans now," he said.

However, sources in the government said that a conclave with industrial leaders was being worked out. The government wanted to ensure that it had infrastructure facilities ready before it began to start speaking to anyone, they said.

A hitech infrastructure development company is to be launched soon with 76 per cent private participation. The investors are to be NRI Malayalis. It would be on the roll in two months, according to Finance Minister Dr Thomas Isaac. "There is enormous interest in the project," he says.

Again, Kannur airport is to come up on similar lines besides several IT parks in northern Kerala.

But the government is not willing to abandon public sector undertakings, even the sick ones. "We will revive them by replacing inefficient functionaries and party people who had been foisted in high positions by the previous government," says the chief minister. The money will come from profit making PSUs, he says.

The government's main preoccupation now is to set right the basic problems sector-wise, taking up agriculture, PSUs, traditional industries, education and health.

"After a year, we would be in a position to go further," he says. "So wait for a year before you give a verdict,'' he adds.

For a chief minister who is also carrying on his campaign against illegal land deals as well as against people accused in various sex rackets in the state, Achuthananthan does not seem to be in tearing hurry to go on a blind date with investors.