The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has offered help to the Haryana Government to ramp up its urban infrastructure, especially in Gurugram and in the five new cities planned to be developed along the newly opened Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway. CII President Rakesh Bharti Mittal proposed to raise a task force, to be co-chaired by a minister designated by the Haryana government, aimed at providing support to the state government in raising world class urban infrastructure. The occasion was an interaction Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal had with CII National Council members after their annual meeting at the CII Northern India headquarters in Chandigarh on Friday on the eve of the CII Agro Tech India 2018.
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Mittal was responding to the Chief Minister making a pitch for attracting investment in the state, which he claimed was making rapid progress towards becoming the most favoured destination for trade and industry. While observing that a lot still needed to be done to improve basic infrastructure in Gurugram to make it more livable, he said CII would like to share its expertise in the field of urban development with the state government, just as it was doing in case of some of the 100 smart cities being developed across the country.
Photos By : Life In Chandigarh
Assuring the CII National Council of positive action in this direction, the Chief Minister said he will direct the newly formed Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) to coordinate with CII. During its four years in power, his government had engaged live with the industry and trade. On the basis of feedback received it had simplified laws and procedures because of which the state had emerged No. 1 in North India in the ease of doing business and No. 3 overall in the country. His government was committed to extend all help to the industry and trade to generate more employment opportunities in the state, he added.
Manohar Lal informed that out of the Rs 5.5 lakh crore worth of MoUs signed during the highly successful Happening Haryana Global Investors Summit 2016 organised by CII in collaboration with the state government at Gurugram, a lot of projects had moved forward with Rs 80,000 crore of investment already on the threshold of crystallisation with a potential of generating one lakh employment opportunities.
He said a forward-looking Haryana Enterprises Promotion Policy was adopted in 2015 and an online single-roof clearance system created in 2017 in the Haryana Enterprises Promotion Centre for speedy clearances for 70 industrial services of 17 departments to new units and those under expansion to speed up the process of crystallising investment. Out of the 75,000 common application forms (CAFs) received by the centre for big, medium and small projects, more than 50,000 clearances had already been granted. Once the remaining 25,000 odd applications are cleared, the state can expect to receive another Rs 3 lakh crore of investment and 5 lakh employment opportunities, he added.
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He also informed the CII National Council members that various industrial clusters and mini clusters were being developed across the state where entrepreneurs were being given attractive subsidies for rapid industrialisation of the entire state.
Tracing the development of highways during these four years, Manohar Lal said besides getting the judicial hurdles cleared and completing the mighty delayed KMP Expressway on fast track, seven more national highways had been added to the existing 13 to take their count to 20. Apart from this, two other expressways to pass through the state were in planning stage – the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway and the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway originating from Gurugram.
Talking about efforts being made to strengthen air connectivity, the chief minister said Hisar was being developed as a major aviation hub to add to the existing international airport at New Delhi and Chandigarh. Unlike in case of the Jewar International airport, near Noida in Uttar Pradesh, where a major chunk of the land required for the project was yet to be acquired, the Haryana government already had 8,000 acres of land in its possession near Hisar, he emphasised.
The Chief Minister also addressed the concerns, suggestions and demands of the CII National Council members regarding labour reforms, giving impetus to the housing and construction industry for cascading effect on a host of other industries, logistics parks, integrated terminal markets, bringing natural gas for the industry under GST, taking measures for making power supply cheaper and more affordable for the industry and bringing Faridabad at par with Gurugram.
 has offered help to the Haryana Government to ramp up its urban infrastructure, especially in Gurugram and in the five new cities planned to be developed along the newly opened Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway. CII President Rakesh Bharti Mittal proposed to raise a task force, to be co-chaired by a minister designated by the Haryana government, aimed at providing support to the state government in raising world class urban infrastructure.){kind=link}