the goan I network
PANAJI
Union Minister of Railways, Commerce & Industries, Piyush Goyal, made an appeal to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to not come in the way of Goa’s development. Goyal was speaking at the concluding event of the Vibrant Goa Summit at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium.
He said, “I heard that the (Mopa) airport is under some litigation and has gone to the court. On this public platform, I fold my hands and appeal to those NGOs and those few people, who are coming in the path of development, who are not helping Goa prosper, who are not helping the cause of the people of Goa.”
“All over the world there are modern airports and large infrastructure, but every time, we try to do something good, create more jobs, attract more tourists, one or the other NGO and few people are going to courts and stall the development work. I think it is the worst form of obstructing justice to the poor of India,” Goyal continued.
He added, “It is high time that there is a mass movement of people of India and Goa to oppose these forces, who are not allowing development, who are not allowing good roads and hotels, airports and expansion of the port. All of these will help Goa in becoming a world class destination and state.”
Goyal assured the industry leaders and the State Government of full support from the Central Government. He also said that he would look into special packages for new hotel infrastructure to come to the State.
He praised Minister of Panchayats, Mauvin Godinho, for playing an important role in getting GST reduced from 28% to 18% for 5-star hotels. Godinho represents Goa on the GST Council and he had been lobbying hard for tax reduction for hotels for a long time.
Goyal also said that in the
last five years the average capital expenditure for expanding the rail infrastructure has been three times in Goa to what it was before. He said that he would like to meet Chief Minister, Pramod Sawant, soon to discuss how rail infra can be further improved in the State.
The concluding function of Vibrant Goa Summit saw the presence of CM Sawant, Minister of Tourism Manohar Ajgaonkar, Minister of Town & Country Planning Chandrakant Kavlekar, Minister of Information Technology Jennifer Monserrate and many others.
Vibrant Goa generates business inquiries worth ` 1,150 crore
PANAJI: The chief mentor of Vibrant Goa Summit, Dr Jagat Shah, informed that the event generated Rs 1,150 crore worth of business enquiries. He also said that the State received investment proposals worth Rs 450 crore during the 3-day Summit. Dr Shah shared the data while presenting the report card of the event. The enquiries were generated
because 6,500 business delegates visited various stalls of the local companies.
“A building material company from Canada gave an order of Rs 60 lakh to a Goan company. A company, which had put up a stall of wooden house, got three orders,” Dr. Shah said.
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