NEC reviews industries sector Projects, moots regional plan for Industries Sector
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, July 01 2014:
North Eastern Council (NEC) is set to focus on industries which have competitive advantage and are based on the locally available resources, Sh.
Ameising Luikham Secretary, NEC stated in a meeting held at NEC secretariat, Shillong on July 1 .
Of the two meetings held in the NEC Secretariat today, the first meeting was to review all on-going projects supported by NEC and the other was to discuss the preparation of regional plan for Industries Sector, said an NEC press release.
The meeting held under the chairmanship of NEC Secretary Ameising Luikham, was attended by State Government Officials and representatives from CII, ICC and FICCI.
While acknowledging that the north east region has strengths in agro processing industry, handloom and handicrafts, Luikham said that there is scope for NEC and NSIC to work together for the unemployed youths.
Industries Sector has 34 ongoing projects including 3 each in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Tripura and Manipur, 2 each from Meghalaya and Sikkim, 4 in Mizoram, and 11 regional projects.
In the meeting, Sh.
Gautam Chintey, Adviser (Banking, Industries and Tourism) requested the states to focus on timely completion of the on-going projects under the sector to achieve the overall development objectives of government.
He mentioned that Industries Sector is committed for the overall socio-economic development of NE Region with the objective of dovetailing NEC Schemes with the schemes of Central Government.
Sh.
Luikham further said that it is the time to think for a regional planning strategy for the NE Region to support the North Eastern Region as a whole.
CII, ICC and FICCI gave their views for the development of a regional plan for industries sector, while the participants elucidated the need for providing an enabling environment for doing business in the region citing that much needs to be done in improving the industrial infrastructure especially reliability of power supply.
Another major issue which was flagged was the land laws in the hill states for facilitating industrialization.
Connectivity to South East Asian Countries, access to ports in Bangladesh especially for Tripura, use of waterways for economic activity and connectivity within the region and to main land India were highlighted.
As regards the Look East Policy, the ICC, CII and FICCI mentioned that a holistic plan needs to be developed for the region as a whole to benefit from this policy.