TN law to woo private capital for infrastructure development

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu state government will soon enact a new legislation to attract private capital for infrastructure development.

Inaugurating the twin conference — Summit on Integrated Infrastructure Development (Suminfra 2003) and Winning Tamil Nadu: An Investment Meet, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry Southern Region (CII-SR) — state Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said the proposed law will provide for comprehensive arrangements such as development of concession agreements, sharing of risks and procedures for infrastructure project development and implementation.

Earlier, a couple of private power projects had cancelled their investment plans some time back. Similarly the private road project in Coimbatore is facing problems in toll collections.

Jayalalithaa also announced the setting up of two 1,000mw thermal power projects partnering with National Thermal Power Corporation and Neyveli Lignite Corporation. While one will come up in Chennai, the other will be in Tuticorin. “In the next five years, I propose to increase the generating capacity by more than 50 per cent of the present installed capacity of 8,200mw,” she said.

According to her the government is committed to make Chennai the knowledge industry hub for South Asia and the Adyar-Siruseri stretch will be developed to international standards this year. “A second IT park offering 1.5 million square feet of quality space will be set in this corridor.”

Announcing the setting up of special economic zones in the port towns of Ennore, Tuticorin and Chennai she also said two apparel export parks will come up in Tiruppur and Irungattukottai, near Chennai.

The other major initiative is the development of East Coast Highway form Nagapattinam to Tuticorin at an outlay of Rs 2,000 crore and the construction of 13 bypass roads to ease transportation.

Declaring the governments goal of achieving an 8-per cent growth for the state economy during the 10th Plan period she said the goal is to double the per capita income by 2010, two years before the national target.

Though the state’s primary sector contributes just 17 per cent of the gross state domestic product (GSDP) more than 62 per cent of the population is dependent on agriculture and allied activities. “Our farmers need to shift from traditional water intensive cultivation to more remunerative commercial crops. Simultaneously, we need to expand opportunities for non-farm employment activities such as dairies, poultry farming, farm forestry and fisheries,” she said.

Towards robust rural physical infrastructure, she said the government will invest more than Rs 2,000 crore through the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund during the 10th Plan period.

With the state deciding to embrace the value-added tax (VAT) regime, she called the manufacturing sector to respond positively by going in boldly for new investments, as the sector will gain under the input rebate scheme and prevention of cascading.

Jayalalithaa released brief synopsis of two reports, Sustainable Infrastructure Development in Southern Region: Integrated Approach, and CII-IIM, Ahmedabad case studies on ‘A World of Class’ of companies from Tamil Nadu.

Earlier in his opening address P K Mohapatra, chairman, CII Tamil Nadu state council said investments would go to places where they are cared for and not where they are needed.

Mallika Srinivasan, chairperson, infrastructure sub-committee, CII (SR), called for a coordinated and sustainable approach for infrastructure development in the southern region while T Kannan, chairman, CII (SR), spoke about the need to brand Tamil Nadu to attract fresh investments.