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Patna,(BiharTimes): The State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB) approved 1,015 investment proposals since 2006, but more than 60 per cent have been found in various stages of stagnation or yet to take off.
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In all 782 out of the total 1,015 approved projects were found either to be in nascent stages or about to start or not yet started or the interest to set them seemed to have fizzled out. The projects entailed investments exceeding Rs three lakh crore.
An SIPB meeting earlier this month approved the setting up of 28 sugar mills in the state at a proposed investment of Rs 6,500 crore.
According to official sources of 1,015 approved projects, there are 90 operational units, while implementation of 143 others is in progress. Official figures put the actual investment in the state from implementation of approved projects at Rs 5,021 crore.
“This is a sad number when the proposed investments on paper exceeds Rs three lakh crore. There are many approved projects, which did not take off. The government did not take cue earlier. Now, it seems too late,” an industrialist was quoted in The Telegraph on condition of anonymity.
The daily quoting sources said that at present, 10 sugar mills, set up at Rs 802 crore, operate in the state. Expansion plans of the 10 sugar mills entailed further investment of Rs 956 crore but the actual was merely Rs 525 crore.
Similarly, the actual investment against a proposal to set up three ethanol plants at Rs 151 crore was a dismal Rs 55 crore.
The SIPB approved the setting up of 533 food processing plants at an investment of Rs 5,942 crore. The actual investment, however, rests at just Rs 762 crore. Against 54 units worth Rs 11,345 crore approved in connection with steel processing and cement industries, the actual investment was Rs 437 crore.
For setting up 22 technical institutions, including medical colleges and hospitals, proposed investment was Rs 626 crore, while the actual invested was a paltry Rs 14 crore. A total of 91 power-related projects worth Rs 2,42,763 crore received a thumbs up, while the real investment was measly Rs 2,185 crore.
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