NT NETWORK
PANAJI
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has reconstituted the 12-member Goa Investment Promotion and Facilitation Board.
As per the order issued by the government on Friday, the Chief Minister is the ex-officio chairperson, while Minister for Information and Technology Rohan Khaunte and Minister for Tourism Manohar ‘Babu’ Azgaonkar are the vice chairpersons of the board.
The secretary (industries) and the secretary (tourism) besides Atrey Sawant, Ernest Dias, Yatin Kakodkar, Girish Bharne, Rajkumar Kamat, and Shekhar Sardesai are the members of the board.
The chief executive officer of board is the member secretary.
The board, whose term expired, had been constituted under the Goa investment policy 2014 by the previous government as nodal authority for attracting investments in the state.
In the past, the board had given in-principle approvals to 151 projects, claiming bringing about collective investment worth Rs 11,485.66 crore and creating employment potential of approximately 25,980 jobs for the locals.
Some 60 proposals, including projects linked to hospitality and industrial sectors, have been pending before it.
T&CP Minister Vijai Sardesai and Khaunte have sought reforms in the board.
Sardesai and Khaunte said that a proposal on reforms in the IPB has already been outlined in the common minimum programme of the coalition government.
Khaunte, who had been critical of the board when in the Opposition, clarified that he had never demanded scrapping of the board, adding that he had said the state should not pursue certain business models or red category industries, which might not be in the interest of the state.
“I always said the IPB Act was good, but perhaps it had not been put in right direction, or perhaps the priorities had not been defined…,” he said.
Goa Forward Party leader Sardesai said the government should follow guidelines, maintaining that the board should not allow red category industries in the state.
“Every proposal which will come to the TCP for change in zones would be examined on case-to-case basis, as the IPB should not be a medium for changing zones,” he stated.