Draft plan for employment generation and economic development of Manipur
- Part 3 -

Ngangom Junior Luwang *

Hills and valleys in Manipur :: Pix by Bullu Raj

THIRD STEP - SINGLE WINDOW ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN

The duly selected Corporate & Marketing Firm shall prepare and submit a Detailed Project Report on the opportunities for economic development, export promotion & employment generation in Manipur after considering the economic development & employment generation models in other suitable and comparable jurisdictions - both in India as well as outside India.

The Report shall carefully benchmark all appropriate jurisdictions and examine all possible reasons for success or failure of economic & employment generation hubs thereof and should clearly indicate a specific economic development, export promotion and employment generation model with detailed reasons.

While recommending an Economic Development Model, the Report should also deal with the customizations that would be required in case of Manipur. The draft Economic Develop Plan shall recommend a Single Window Clearance system for operating Services centers, manufacturing units and trading units in Manipur, wherein an Applicant only needs to apply in a single Form or Application for all the regulatory clearances and legal requirements for ease of business and hassle-free business ecosystem.

The draft Plan should be divided into two parts - manufacturing business and service industry (including BPOs, KPOs etc.). While manufacturing business" part shall be focused on sectors where raw materials are available in Manipur for short-term business purposes and on other sectors for long business purposes, the Services Sector part shall also examine creating a financial services center under Section 18 of the Special Economic Zone Act, 2005 (apart from other service sectors).

Though the Draft Plan shall be on over-all economic development of Manipur, focus should be more on employment generation, export promotion and manufacturing/trading units in Manipur. From this perspective, the draft Plan should identify, inter alia, the following:

(a) Specific economic sectors for export promotion generation;
(b) Estimated employment generation volume for each identified sector; & employment
(C) Target companies/corporate entities for inviting investment for service industry, trading facilities and manufacturing units;
(d) Approximate land requirement estimate for each identified sector;
(e) Transportation logistics - railways, roadways and air-cargos;
(f) Possible sector specific incentives to make Manipur more attractive for investors to set up shops vis-a-vis other jurisdictions in India and outside India;
(g) Required Fiscal & Non-Fiscal financial reforms (if required);
(h) Possible changes in existing laws of Manipur and requirement for new laws, any, and identification of the same.

Suggested measures for a more secured investment ecosystem in Manipur to instill better sense of financial security, namely sovereign quarantee by Government of Manipur, safeguards against law & order issues, infrastructure safeguards immune from general infrastructure bottleneck issues in Manipur.

The Report shall clearly indicate whether services sector, manufacture plants, trading units and other economic activities should be in earmarked industrial zones or can be scattered geographically. If the economic development activities are to be located in industrial hubs, whether such hubs ought to be declared as Special Economic Zones or whether the same can be general economic development hubs with goods emanating out of it serving both\ domestic and offshore markets.

If the identified/recommended economic development model is going to be a hybrid of identified industrial zones and scattered economic development units, the Report shall give a rough hubs and/or of such estimate number and such a report shall be submitted within 4 months of selection of the Corporate & Marketing Consultancy Firm.

The selected Corporate & Marketing Consultancy Group within 3 weeks from the date of selection intimate to the Economic Development Committee all required data, information and documents required for purposes of preparation of the detailed Economic Development Plan and the same shall be provided by the Economic Development Committee within three weeks from the date of receipt of a request to this effect.

To enable the Corporate & Marketing Consultancy Group to undertake the contracted work, Government of Manipur shall provide all required information, data, facts and fiqures, asked for by the Corporate & Marketing Consultant.

The Economic Development Plan shall more specifically consider business potential for each recommended sector from the point of view of raw materials as well as materials availability, transportation logistics (for raw finished products), manpower deployment, competitive market incentives (fiscal as well as non-fiscal) with clear explanation for such incentives qua similar rates or incentives in other jurisdictions or states etc.

STEP FOUR - ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN FINALIZATION

The draft Economic Development Plan submitted as part of Step Three as mentioned above shall be finalized by the Corporate & Marketing Consultation Firm and the Economic Development Committee within 60 days from the date of submission of the draft Plan by the Corporate & Marketing Consultancy Firm.

After eliciting required feedback of the concerned departments/ministries of the Government of Manipur and the Economic Development Committee, the draft Economic Development Plan shall be revisited by the Corporate Office

1. Marketing Consultancy Firm by incorporating such views and feedback and such a revised Plan shall be submitted to the Economic Development Committee for approval and finalization.

2. After discussion (if required) with the Corporate 8& Marketing Consultancy Firm, the Economic Development Committee shall finalize the draft Economic Development Plan and approve the same, copy of which shall be furnished to the Corporate & Marketing Consultancy Firm for the next phase of the project.


To be continued....