Punjab sealed investments worth Rs 15,000 cr: Sukhbir Singh Badal

New Delhi, Jul 24: Punjab's deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today invited foreign investors to become active partner in the state's development efforts and claimed that it had sealed investments worth Rs 15,000 crore in the last one year through clearance to 163 projects.

Presiding over an interactive session with heads of foreign missions and international industrial chambers here, Badal said the state had also "pre-cleared" 300 hectares of land which was available for business operations in Punjab.

He said process of creating a large land pool had also been initiated and soon 2000 hectares of additional land would be available for industrial projects. He also referred to steps like self declarations on norms by factory owners, reduced gestation period and a 'Unified Regulator' to encourage new businesses.

The meeting was held ahead of the "Invest Punjab" summit planned in Mohali on October 28 and 29 later this year. Detailing other measures being taken to make it easy for investors to do business in Punjab, Badal said factory owners can fill in self declarations regarding various norms being fulfilled by them.

"We want to do away with any unnecessary harassment," he said.

He said the state would, however, hold random checks and in case of any defaults, due action would be taken as per the law. He said taking a unique and revolutionary step, the state has created a Punjab Investor office whose CEO had powers of 30 departments.

"Never has such an experiment been tried elsewhere," he said, adding the step was already bearing fruit. Claiming that the gestation period for starting a new project had reduced drastically, he said, "Time taken for all required clearances as per law in Punjab has gone down to 38 days and we expect to bring this period down to 30 days soon."

He said during the last year the 'Unified Regulator' has accepted 163 projects by sealing investments worth Rs 15,000 crore besides becoming a navigator for other states and country as well.

PTI