Fadnavis Says His Govt’s Infra Push Will Help Maharashtra Become A Trillion Dollar Economy

Maharashtra is on track to become a trillion-dollar economy, given the impetus to infrastructure development in the last three years, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said today (18 September). The state attracted more than half of the total foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country last fiscal, Fadnavis said at the fifth edition of the Progressive Maharashtra Summit, organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

The theme of the summit this year is Maharashtra 2025: Leapfrogging to $1 Trillion Economy.

Noting that the state has always been a leader in industry and business in the country, the chief minister said there have been times when Maharashtras leadership position was "threatened, challenged and compromised" to some extent.

"However, I should tell you that in the last three years of our government, we have been successful in bringing the state back to the leadership position in the country," he asserted.

Using the FDI metrics in Maharashtra as an indicator, Fadnavis said the state accounted for more than half of the countrys foreign direct investment last year, which shows the confidence of global investors. He also added that there used to be a very close competition between Delhi, Karnataka and Gujarat in terms of attracting FDI, but in 2016-17, of the overall FDI, as much as 53 per cent came into Maharashtra, making it the undisputed leader.

"We have the demography, democracy and demand," he said, adding that when the world population is ageing, 50 per cent of Indias population is under 35.

"This demographic dividend can be leveraged to transform Maharashtra into a manufacturing hub to cater to domestic and global demand," he explained.

Fadnavis said that his government has created infrastructure projects to the tune of Rs 5.96 lakh crore and is looking at setting up more projects worth Rs 1 lakh crore, going forward which would create a lot of jobs for industries in the services sector and enable delivery based on information, communication and technology (ICT).

He also said his government will complete 120 km of new Metro rail lines in Mumbai and another 200 km in the Mumbai metropolitan region in the next four years.

On the trans-harbour link connecting Mumbai-Navi Mumbai, the chief minister promised that the job order will be issued in the next 20 days with the work set to start before the year ends while the Navi Mumbai International Airport’s first phase is likely to be commissioned by December 2019 and the second by 2022.

Fadnavis also said the Nagpur-Mumbai Super Communication Expressway will integrate 24 districts in the hinterland of the state to Indias largest port, JNPT, enabling transporting cargo to the port within 12 hours. PTI