Though the State Investment Promotion Board last week cleared 101 proposals worth Rs 37,000 crore, in the last about two years of the Nitish government only Rs 381 crore, that is, one per cent of the total amount has actually come in the form of the investment by industrialists. Ironically even these investors are local. This notwithstanding the Global Bihar Meet and other big conferences organized by the state government to attract investment. The state witnessed the visit by industrialists like Mukesh Ambani, Ratan Tata, Sunil Bharati Mittal, economist, Lord Meghnand Desai and other national and international experts.
Reports say that the state government's unwillingness to forcibly acquire the agricultural land is one of the factos behind this slow investment. Apart from this the bureaucratic red-tapism and other factors too are keeping the outsiders away.
Besides, earlier this year the chief minister also backed out from the Special Economic Zones project though in the beginning he showed enthusiasm towards it.
Out of 101 projects cleared by the Investment Board only three, and all of them local, achieved some headway. They are Shakti Sudha, which completed the first phase of its Rs 70 crore project. Gangotri Iron spent Rs 12 crore on the first phase of its Rs 50 crore expansion programme at Bihta near Patna. The third one is Rs 245 crore Greenfield Sugar Project, which has already spent Rs 18 crore on purchase of land at Bettiah in West Champaran
Source: The Bihar Times, 2nd November,2007
