Jitan Ram Manjhi to visit London next week to bring foreign investment

PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi will embark on a three-day visit to Great Britain next week to bring foreign investment to his state.

"My main objective of visit to London is to bring foreign investment to Bihar," he told reporters here upon arrival from Nalanda where he participated in a function to mark the formal inauguration of academic session at the Nalanda University.

"I will impress upon the foreign investors to invest in Bihar for which the state government will provide all facilities," Manjhi said.

He said that he will give a lecture on the topic 'Bihar Story - Resurrection of a state inclusion and growth' at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

The Bihar Chief Minister is going to London on an invitation by London-headquartered International Growth Centre.

On the Nalanda University, he said that it was a proud day for Bihar as the launch of academic session marked culmination of an eight-year-long endeavour towards establishment of the world-class university on its ancient ruins.

Manjhi thanked his predecessor Nitish Kumar and the Central government for concerted efforts to fructify the project eight years after the state legislature had passed a resolution in this regard.

The Chief Minister also expressed gratitude to the visiting External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for announcement of Rs 2,127 crore for expansion of academic infrastructure at the Nalanda University and said that he has requested her for Central assistance for development of the villages adjoining the university.

Manjhi said that an international airport will be constructed near the Nalanda University which, he claimed, would boost tourism in the region known for Buddhist heritage.

He said that the state government will provide an additional 100 acre land for the Nalanda University in addition to 486 acre land that has already been given to the university.