Shillong: A Single Window Agency (SWA) meeting was held today under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister Dr. Mukul Sangma for consideration of several investment proposals in the State.
The Single Wndow Agency examined all the proposals that were placed before it by the Department of Commerce & Industries and based on their recommendation all the proposals have been approved for providing Single Window clearance, except two proposals that the department was asked to study further on how it would have impact on existing investment that has been approved or which are already in the pipeline.
Out of the 15 proposals for investment, eight proposals were for Ri Bhoi district, three for East Khasi Hills, two for East Jaintia Hills and only one each for West Garo Hills and West Jaintia Hills.
Some of the proposals approved for Single Window clearance in Ri Bhoi districts include M/S Sriram Fasteners, for manufacturing of bolts and nuts, barbed wires, etc, M/S Meghalaya Polymers, an existing plant for manufacture of plastic water tanks “Meghatex” and M/S Megha Cashew Pvt. Ltd in Byrnihat,
Briefing the media persons after the meeting, the Chief Minister said that under its Investment Promotion Policy, the State Government has been participating in a number of business summits and a number of proposals have been received by the Department of Commerce & Industries for investment in different parts of the State.
The trend of these investment proposals have been indicative of preferred destination and all the proposals received so far indicate Ri Bhoi district as a preferred destination, followed by East Khasi Hills and both Jaintia and West Garo Hills districts being third preferred destinations, he informed.
He said that the meeting culminated with a suggestion to the Department to encourage the State’s own potential entrepreneurs. “Over the years local entrepreneurs and businessmen have been trying to diversify their investment and there is a need to reach out to those potential businessmen and entrepreneurs who are residents of the State and encourage them to look at diverse areas for investment”, he said. As such the Department along with Meghalaya Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) has been directed to create an enabling environment to our potential entrepreneurs to look at industrial sector in diverse fields, starting from small and medium enterprises and eventually large-scale industries by partnering with various other potential investors from outside the State, he added.
As per its evaluation, the main challenge identified was that the local potential entrepreneurs need to have various options available before them for investment as new start up model projects which will give complete reflection of viability, attractiveness of such available opportunities, based on which they can decide on their investment options.
The Chief Minister said that there would be a model of projects prepared by the department, who will be assigning the responsibility to MIDC, and make the projects available in different scales. Agro-forestry, food processing, hospitality and manufacturing sectors have been identified as priority sectors not only from viability aspect but also from capability of generating more employment for local people, he said. “We will also provide support through MIDC for a simpler credit flow and develop business summits exclusively to promote local entrepreneurs and create platform for them to have interface with potential investors from outside” he added. (MIPR)
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