Investment proposals worth Rs 5,000 crore in Goa

PANAJI: Dismissing allegations that Goa was not attracting much industrial investment, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar today said the state had recently received 88 proposals involving investment of about Rs 5,000 crore.

Speaking to reporters after meeting the industrialists at Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he said state government had begun the process of identifying and freeing up land for speeding up industrial development.

"We have received 88 investment proposals of which 20 are from top notch companies. The proposals are either for fresh investment or expansion of their existing facilities," said Parrikar, accompanied by Industries Minister Mahadev Naik.

State-run Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) would scrutinise them before short-listing the best ones, he said.

The Chief Minister said that land availability was a problem. "Almost a third of the total land allotted by IDC is locked in the Special Economic Zones," he said, adding that 38 lakh square metres of land is allotted to SEZs out of total 113 lakh square metres allotted by IDC to date.

About 5 lakh square metres of land would be added to IDC's land bank in the next couple of months by various means, including unlocking the land from the unused industrial sheds, he said.