VIJAYAWADA: Be it low cost of land, vast industrial estate or its port connectivity, Andhra Pradesh will capitalise on the natural advantages it has to attract investments, Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath told TNIE in a freewheeling chat ahead of the Global Investors Summit, scheduled to be held on March 3 and 4 in Visakhapatnam.
Confident of the success of the summit, Buggana explained that the State’s proximity to major cities such as Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, its coastline, and the ‘wonderful’ manpower will surely fetch a positive response.
Elaborating on the government’s objective, he said, “We don’t want to be a part of the MoU race like the erstwhile TDP government. Our target is to bring realisable investments. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has asked us to set a very realistic target. Three summits were earlier conducted in AP and of the total MoUs signed, projects for investments worth Rs 1.80 lakh crore have been realised. That is our target for the Summit. Getting investments for projects that will actually be grounded.”
Pointing out that the State has consistently been ranked number one in Ease of Doing Business for the last three years, Buggana explained, “Earlier, it used to take months together for investors to get approvals. Our target was 21 days. However, we are clearing approvals in 12 days. This is for industries other than those that require pollution and environment clearances, and have to follow Government of India norms,” he pointed out.
On criticism that the YSRC government did not focus on investments earlier, Buggana called it Opposition propaganda. “The TDP government secured around Rs 11,000-odd crore, while the YSRC government has recorded investments to the tune of Rs 13,000 crore per year in the large and medium industries category. This includes two years of the Covid pandemic,” he observed.”
Challenging the Opposition to come forward and explain which of the government’s schemes is wrong, he asserted, “We take pride in calling ourselves welfare-oriented. What does the previous government have to be proud of? They made promises they could not deliver.”
Asked how the government plans to make AP the best State for low cost of doing business, he replied their focus is on providing land, water and manpower at a low cost, good infrastructure and power supply, and quick approvals. Plug and play facilities will also play a key role, he added.