BAMBOLIM: The Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said that all pending proposals before the state Investment Promotion Board (IPB) would be cleared by March 31st this year. Parrikar was being interviewed by Prudent TV editor, Pramod Acharya on the topic of ‘Goa Vision 2022’ as a part of the on-going, three-day Goa BizFest 2018 at the SP Mukherjee indoor stadium here on Friday evening.
Parrikar said, “The proposal clearance has gathered speed and there will be zero pendency at the IPB.”
When asked about the impact of the recent Supreme court order imposing curbs on the mining industry, the chief minister said that the SC order referred only to mining leases and that there was no ban on mining exports. “Our current mining inventory will last till December and I foresee the mining industry back on its feet by end December 2018,” Parrikar said.
According to Parrikar, the interim measure was to introduce agriculture in the mining areas, as was done by the government in the 2012-13 period.
The chief minister dismissed the possibility of the government pursuing any legal recourse in response to the SC order.
When asked about providing skilled, local manpower for the proposed international airport at Mopa, the chief minister said that special training programmes would be initiated at the polytechnics at Tuem and Bicholim.
Asked if environmental activism had stalled infrastructure projects in the state, Parrikar said that the state government had successfully won most cases by strongly presenting their point of view. “We have won cases referring to the Mandovi bridge, the Zuari bridge and the Saligao waste treatment plant in recent times,” Parrikar said.
Parrikar also expressed hope that the proposed implementation of digital taxi meters, a mobile taxi app being initiated by GTDC and the introduction of more Kadamba bus services from the airport would make transportation better in the state of Goa.
Addressing the audience, the chief minister said that it was important to take small steps for eventual success. “We need to take one step at a time for anything to be successful,” the CM said.
