PANAJI
On a day which saw a diversified mix of projects getting the green signal, Goan entrepreneurs got a shot-in-thearm on Monday as 13 out of the 14 projects cleared by the
Investment Promotion Board (IPB) belonged to the sons of the soil. Expansion of existing projects dominated the proceedings of the meeting, with 7 projects getting the nod for
extending their existing facilities. The 14 cleared projects will bring in Rs 718 crore of
investment besides creating 2,608 jobs in the State. Of the cleared projects, four related
to tourism, three manufacturing, 2 each of electronics, beverages and pharma and 1
cement project. Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar who chaired the meeting said, “Ever since IPB came into being, we have given in-principle approval to 98 projects, which will create 18,016 jobs and will bring Rs 8,206 crore of investment. We do not encourage companies that will not employ locals. In fact, in today’s meeting, of 14 projects which got approval, 13 belong to Goan entrepreneurs”. The most prominent projects to get IPB’s nod for expansion were Andrew Telecommunication’s proposal for expansion of its existing facility of copper cable, fibre apparatus and copper apparatus at Verna Industrial Estate, Watson Pharma’s proposal for expansion of capacity of tablets and capsules at Verna Industrial Estate and Cadila Healthcare’s proposal for expansion of manufacturing of tablets and capsules at Kundaim Industrial Estate. Andrew Telecommunication’s
expansion will result in 500 jobs, Watson Pharma’s expansion will create 300 jobs,
while Cadila Healthcare’s expansion will create 50 jobs. The most prominent tourism
project to get approval was an agro-eco tourism project at Shristhal in Canacona. This project’s promoter is Alkesh Mangesh Dessai, who intends to show tourists farming of paddy and vegetables. Besides, the project will also have provision for other activities like biking, hiking and fishing. Spark Healthline, which had asked for approval of floating jetty in Mandovi bay area and a four-star hotel near Reis Magos fort, got IPB’s nod only for hotel part of the project and not the jetty. This project will create 1,000 jobs. Ashton Godinho, chief executive officer, IPB, said, “We haven’t given approval for jetty part of the project since water doesn’t come under our purview”. Meanwhile, two beverage projects also got the go-ahead from the IPB. Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages got approval for expansion of manufacturing of sparkling PET line, raw syrup and ready syrup. Varun Beverages, which manufactures Pepsi, got approval for expansion of glass line manufacturing facility. Interestingly, Varun Beverages and Andrew Telecom-munications
had got an approval from IPB for expansion only last year. The fact that they applied
and got approvals for fresh expansions shows that corporates are showing faith in Goa. In earlier board meetings of IPB, certain officers had raised a question that rules, which should govern board’s workings, weren’t framed. These rules pertain to dayto- day functioning of IPB like what should be the course of action if a project cleared by IPB doesn’t start operation, what steps should be taken if a project cleared by IPB is awaiting approvals from other departments. Godinho said, “The rules have been drafted and sent
to the legal department. The queries are minor in nature, which should be sorted out soon”.
