Patna: The Bihar government today requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure that the state gets a good share of investments brought by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is arriving in India tomorrow.
“The Chinese President is coming to India.
We request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure that a good share of investments brought by him comes to Bihar.
There is a need for decentralisation of investment in the country,” said Bihar Industries Minister Bhim Singh.
“The thrust area for Chinese investment is infrastructure development, power, urban development, and food processing.
Bihar needs all four. The state will benefit if we get a good share of Chinese investment,” Singh added. Singh, who returned from a five-day tour to China, was speaking to mediapersons today.
He had led a delegation of officials to participate in ‘International Fair for Investment and Trade' (CIFIT) at Xiamen, a major city on the southeast coast of China.
Reacting to questions on recent border skirmishes with China in Ladakh, the minister played it down by saying, “Invasion is a different matter from trade. We should not mix them up. It is for the Union Government to look into the matter of Chinese aggression.”
He also informed that the Chinese are willing to invest in Bihar, but the condition is that they be provided land and single window clearance by the state government to establish industries and industrial facilities.
“Chinese entrepreneurs have showed much interest in investing in Bihar provided we give them land, as well as, single window clearance.
Five of their big companies are keen about investing here, and two of them have assured us that they will come to survey the market conditions here,” said Singh.
The minister said he discussed the issue with Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, who has directed his Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to put up the matter at the meeting of state ‘Industrial Cabinet' next month to expedite the single window clearance system.
Industries Department Principal Secretary Navin Verma said Bihar has offered opportunities to the Chinese companies in the form of raw material, tourism, skilled labour, solar power, textiles, and electronics.
“We also hope to establish new cities as part of the proposed Amritsar-New Delhi-Kolkata Industrial Corridor, which will be developed by the central government,” Verma said.
Naming one of the Chinese companies, Deng Qixing, Verma said it manufactures computer hardware, but now wants to diversify and is interested in Bihar.
