CM Banerjee calls on industry to set up more export hubs in the state
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced plans to invest Rs.72,000 crores in the upcoming Jungle Sundari Dedicated Freight Corridor, and upgrade the Bagdogra airport to be international aviation hub while regional airports are coming up at Malda, Balurghat, Purulia and Cooch Behar in West Bengal.
Twenty-six helicopter landing stations have already been established, added Banerjee, giving details of the recently concluded Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) on 21 April 2022.
“We have received investment proposals worth Rs.342,375 crores during BGBS 2022. This is the highest among all the editions of the summit,” said the Chief Minister, pointing out that 137 Memorandums of Understanding and Letters of Intent were signed during the summit covering sectors such as logistics, infrastructure and industrial capacity building.
Reiterating the state’s focus on Ease of Doing Business, she said, “We have constituted a task force under the Chief Secretary to ensure quick and smooth implementation of projects.”
The Chief Minister further urged the state-based industry to set up more export hubs in Bengal.
“Over the three years private sector and the Government of West Bengal together will invest Rs.5,000 crores which will create 200,000 jobs in the tourism,” added Rudra Chatterjee, Chair, FICCI West Bengal and MD, Luxmi Group.
He further added that there is a need to ensure that more flights, especially international, come to the state.
“Bengal has some of the brightest minds and together we can take the economic agenda of this state forward very fast and very effectively,” added Harshvardhan Neotia, Past President, FICCI and Chairman, Ambuja Neotia Group.
“The services sector has a very promising future. The Chief Minister has alluded to our human talent that the service sector feeds on,” he said, highlighting opportunities in the state.
West Bengal is the powerhouse of agriculture and has well-positioned agri-resources, according to Sanjiv Puri, National Executive Committee Member, FICCI and Chairman & MD, ITC Ltd.
During the summit, FICCI signed a tripartite MoU with the Paschim Banga Society for Skill Development (PBSSD), Technical Education, Training and Skill Development (TET&SD) Department and the Hettich Poddar Wood Working Institute (HPWWI), to develop Placement Linked Training Programme for the Furniture sector.
The aim of this is to bridge the skill gap and provide opportunities to Youth and Craftsmen from the sector for gainful wage employment as well as entrepreneurship, said FICCI, a partner for the BGBS 2022. fiinews.com
