LG to embark on 4-day visit from today
Will help Govt reach close to Rs 60,000 cr investments
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Jan 4: Jammu and Kashmir Government has received encouraging response from Dubai based industrialists for investments in the Union Territory and a number of Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) are likely to be signed during four-day visit of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to the Gulf nation beginning tomorrow.
“Sinha will leave for Dubai tomorrow and will be there for two-three days before returning here on January 8,” official sources told the Excelsior.
A high-level delegation of Jammu and Kashmir headed by Principal Secretary Industries and Commerce Ranjan Prakash Thakur is presently camping in Dubai holding talks with various leading industrial groups for inviting investments in Jammu and Kashmir. The UT Government has already signed proposals worth Rs 44,000 crore with various industrial groups, the latest being Rs 18,300 crore with real estate developers.
Sources said the Jammu and Kashmir Government is finalizing the MoUs as several industrial groups including the leading ones have shown interest in investments in the Union Territory. The MoUs, they added, are likely to be signed after arrival of the Lieutenant Governor in Dubai on January 6 where he will stay for couple of days before returning to Jammu on January 8.
“We are in touch with various industrial groups in Dubai. The response has been very encouraging. Many top industrial houses are ready to invest in Jammu and Kashmir. We are drafting the MoUs and they will be signed during the Lieutenant Governor’s visit to Dubai,” sources said, adding Jammu and Kashmir has emerged as favourite destination of the investors.
Emaar Group of Dubai has already announced that it will develop 500,000 square feet Mall in Srinagar.
As per the sources, the investments pertained to different sectors. The Jammu and Kashmir Government also wants that all sectors should flourish with investments and that is why it was in touch with different groups in Dubai.
In addition to Dubai, sources said, investors from some other countries had also earlier approached Jammu and Kashmir Government for investments in the Union Territory and their proposals will also be considered.
“Jammu and Kashmir has already recovered investment proposals after the launch of new Industrial Scheme to the tune of Rs 44,000 crore,” sources said, adding that after signing of the MoUs in Dubai the proposals would easily cross Rs 50,000 crore or even Rs 55,000 crore.
In his address to the first-ever Real Estate Developers Summit in Jammu on December 27, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had announced that investments to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir are likely to touch Rs 60,000 crore very soon.
“Investment proposals from Dubai could be a significant step in achieving the target of Rs 60,000 crore,” sources said.
“Investments from Dubai will be the first Foreign Direct Investments in Jammu and Kashmir,” they said.
At the time of announcement of the Industrial Development Scheme, the Government had anticipated investments to the tune of Rs 28,400 crore but now it expects to touch Rs 60,000 crore figure shortly and it might go up further going by the response the industry is showing for investments in Jammu and Kashmir.
In the Real Estate Developers Summit in Jammu on December 27, the Government had signed 39 non-binding Memorandums of Understanding worth Rs 18,300 crore. The Apollo Hospitals had also signed MoU for construction of hospital in Jammu.
The Government proposed to hold Real Estate Developers Summit in Srinagar during summer on May 21 and 22.
The Jammu and Kashmir Government is of the view that the more the investments are generated from industry, the more there will be employment opportunities for youth.
The Lieutenant Governor has already stated that industry will be taken right up to village and block levels so that its benefits reach among all people of the Union Territory.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
