the goan I network
PANAJI
The Goa Industrial Development Corporation is eager to operationalise the coal block in Madhya Pradesh allocated to it by the Centre and is in the process of identifying a consultant, Industries Minister Vishwajit Rane has said.
Rane said at a meeting with the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, which Chief Secretary Parimal Rai also attended, it was concluded that a consultant needs to be on board.
Rane said that the meeting also took the view that the ‘sovereign guarantee’ of around Rs 195 crore which has to be given to operationalise the coal block should be given by the operational partner and not the State.
“We (GIDC) is not going to put any money, neither is the State government going to contribute any funds,” Rane said, adding that the State will simultaneously open a channel of communication with the Central government to deal with the sovereign guarantee issue.
“This is a high-value thing. You need a financial consultant on board and a thorough screening process has to be adopted so no fingers can be pointed later,” Rane said, adding that the consultant will be selected from among those empanelled by the Union Finance Ministry.
The State finance department had recently rejected the GIDC’s plea that the Rs 195-crore ‘sovereign performance guarantee’ it has to contribute to operationalise the coal block be provided by the State government.
The finance department had advised the GIDC that the State government did not have the financial space to fund such “commercial proposals” and since the Corporation was a body corporate, it could itself raise the funds on its own.
The corporation is now hoping to raise the funds through the proceeds of the auctioning it has proposed of some 23-lakh square meters of land it retrieved from the aborted Special Economic Zone (SEZ) promoter companies.
