PANAJI
In what can be described as a major shot in the arm for the state government, as many as 46 projects approved by the Investment Promotion Board (IPB) have already started their commercial production. This means that these projects have finished building their factory premises, employed people and have starting manufacturing products.
A source within the IPB said, “46 projects approved by us have started commercial production. Ever since IPB came into being, 170 projects were approved. Of that, 10 projects couldn’t materialise on account of several reasons. In December last year, the in-principle approval of another 17 projects was withdrawn. Moreover, 20 projects were approved by this state government after it came into being in March 2017. So, overall, of the remaining 123 projects, 46 have already started commercial production.”
Some of these 46 projects are expansion projects and the remainign are new projects.
Among the projects, which have already started commercial production include the project of Varun Beverages in Sanguem, Optel Vision’s project, Sanofi Aventis’s expansion project, Cipla’s expansion project, Commscope’s expansion project, Ion Exchange’s project, Olympus Enterprises’s project, Arbor Brewing’s project, N V Eco Tourism’s project and several other projects.
The source further informed, “Twenty more projects are in the process of seeking IPB’s nod at the moment. Over and above this, 20 additional projects, which are in coastal regulation zone areas (CRZ), have approached us. It’s not within our purview to approve the projects in CRZ areas. So, we will send their applications to the department concerned and let them know the decision of the department.”
The state government had issued an order in May this year, which had designated IPB as the ‘single window’ for investments made in the state under sub-section 3 and 4 of Section 3 of IPB Act. But, under Section 8, the government has said that IPB shall not recommend cases for setting up projects.
For projects falling under Section 8 (which includes projects in CRZ areas), the IPB will merely act as a facilitator, wherein it will receive the project application and pass it on to the department concerned to take a call.
