Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that this was the biggest investment offer Assam witnessed in the past 76 years.
Guwahati: Apart from 164 investment proposals of nearly two lakh crore in 16 sectors, union ports, shipping and waterways minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Wednesday announced that the Centre will spend Rs 4,800 crore for developing waterways and related infrastructure in Assam in the next five years.
Addressing a session on the State's road, railway and riverine infrastructure at the 'Advantage Assam 2.0 Investment and Infrastructure Summit', Mr Sonowal said, “I want to announce that in the next five years, Rs 4,800 crore will be spent by my Ministry in Assam,"
The amount will be spent on various works, like building a ship repair facility, construction of alternate roads for ports and development of terminals.
Mr Sonowal said that a centre of excellence in maritime education will also be established in the State, which will provide 5,000 skilled youth to the shipping industry annually.
The Union Minister also highlighted the importance of waterways in economic development and maintained that the sector has received a major boost since the BJP-led government took over in 2014. "India is aiming to become a leading maritime nation by 2030 and also one of the top five shipbuilding nations," he added.
Mr Praveer Sinha, CEO and MD of Tata Power, told reporters that the company would generate 5000MW of renewable and clean energy with investment of Rs 30,000 crore in five years. The company has helped 50 big tea estates in Assam to convert to solar energy and plans to take another 100 tea estates on board.
"We will install 300 electric charging stations for EVs along the highways in Assam. We will also provide hydel power to Assam from our two plants in Bhutan, one 650MW and another 1100 MW," he said.
Apart from several government projects Assam is all set to get a Rs 3,200-crore cement clinker and grinding plant in the state, courtesy of Star Cement Ltd.
The Assam government and Star Cement Ltd. signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard, on the concluding day of the Advantage Assam business summit on February 26.
Moreover an agreement was inked between the state government and Matheson Hydrogen Lvt Ltd, which is willing to set up a Rs 1,500-crore hydrogen and steam generation plant.
The state government also signed a Rs 500-crore MoU with Global Health Ltd, while two non-financial agreements were signed with ITE Education Service.
A total of 164 MoUs of investment proposals with companies in 15 sectors were signed on day one of the ‘Advantage Assam 2.0 Investment and Infrastructure Summit 2025’ on Tuesday.
It is significant from Tata Sons to Ambani, Adani and Jindal groups, several prominent industrialist players on Tuesday announced big investment plans in Assam during the Advantage Assam 2.0 Investment and Infrastructure Summit.
Reliance Group Chairman Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani of Adani Group announced investments of Rs 50,000 crore each in the next five years. Tata Group, which is setting up the state's first semiconductor assembling plant in the outskirts of Guwahati at Jagiroad, also signed an MoU worth Rs 30,000 crore for new investments.
The state government said sectors like semiconductors, electronics, healthcare, renewable energy and tourism attracted maximum investments.
Assam had received over Rs 68,000 crore investment proposals during a similar investment summit organised in 2018. But all did not materialise on the ground mainly due to the problem of insurgency and agitations.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that this was the biggest investment offer Assam witnessed in the past 76 years. "From being the most disturbed state to being the most peaceful state today, Assam has taken a big leap towards peace. I invite more companies to invest in Assam. We assure them of the best environment and incentives for doing business with ease," said Mr Sarma.
