In an exclusive interview, Swadheen S Kshatriya, chief secretary, Government of Maharashtra, speaks to Steena Joy about what has been chalked out to make Maharashtra the preferred investment as well as tourism destination in the country
What is the government’s vision for Maharashtra in the next two years?
The Make in India and Make in Maharashtra week which has been planned from February 13 is to be inaugurated by the Hon Prime Minister of our country. The main event will be an international exhibition, first of its kind and a never before event in Maharashtra. Around 10,000 delegates and 500 MNCs are expected to participate. The exhibition space which is under construction in the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai will be spread over 100,000 sq meters. The heads of state of many countries will be attending the event. Today, the world is looking towards India as an Economic Superpower and one of the strongest economies and Maharashtra is the most preferred destination for investment. This has been vindicated by an ASSOCHAM study, which says that Maharashtra continues to be the most desired investment destination in India. Even traditionally, the state (where the Gateway of India is located) has remained the ‘gateway’ for foreign investment. So we want to use the Make in Maharashtra week to showcase the state as a number one investment destination and as an international financial centre.
The state is also known for the Ease of Doing Business. We have introduced standard operating procedures (SOPs) for industry so that time required for construction permissions has been reduced from one year to 60 days. The number of permissions that were required earlier have been substantially reduced. My dream in the next two years is to have a Single Window for all clearances for industry. And our promise is an effective Single Window system where the investor will give one common application form and the Government will take the responsibility of getting all the clearances for him in a stipulated time period. So we are going to undertake a massive business process re-engineering and the benefit of the same will be passed on to the end user through single window system.
How can Maharashtra leverage on its tourism strengths and how can the government bring in tourism friendly policies?
The state’s potential for attracting tourists is immense. However we have not been able to tap it to the full extent. So we have identified that certain policy changes will be required. We have already formulated a tourism policy which has been uploaded on our website. We have so far received 85 suggestions to improve the policy.
We also want to try innovative ideas. There is no adequate Bed & Breakfast accommodation and home stay options in the state. Nagpur and Vidarbha have beautiful forests and rich wild life including Tigers, but the accommodation options are very few. We must build more accommodation options in the buffer zones of Forests like in Madhya Pradesh for example. We want to encourage such models.
We want to open the tourism sector to the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. We have large land assets for tourism projects. So we wish to invite the private sector to invest in tourism. Land will be provided by the government and the private sector can develop it. We want to encourage investment in the tourism sector. Then there is the Adopt a Monument initiative. Historical monuments are always in need of maintenance and we want to involve the private sector in this.
We also have a Single Window proposal for tourism. Presently, nearly 71 permissions are required for tourism projects; we want to scale it down to a bare 20 permissions. We want to consider all kinds of investment to make the tourism sector very attractive.
What steps are being taken to improve regional connectivity in the state?
The dream project of our Hon Chief Minister is to have a Super Expressway connecting Nagpur to Mumbai similar to the Pune Mumbai Expressway. The Pune Mumbai Expressway has not just reduced the travel time between these two cities but has also contributed to the economic development of the belt. Similarly the expressway from Nagpur to Mumbai will pass through districts like Amravati, Buldhana and other peripheral towns which have tremendous untapped potential for development. Such an expressway will be a game changer. Our road length in 2012 was 2,63,000 km. We have drawn a plan to touch 3,36,000 km of roads in the next ten years. So our plan is twofold – improving the condition of existing roads while building new ones to connect interior regions.
Rail projects are also important. Construction is on for a rail project from Ahmednagar to Parli in Beed district to connect one of the most backward regions of Marathwada. 50 per cent will be funded by Government of India and 50 per cent by Government of Maharashtra. We have provided Rs 250 crore for this project for current financial year.
As for airports, the Navi Mumbai International Airport with capacity to handle 60 million passengers per year will start construction this year. Phase I with capacity of 10 million passengers will be operational in 2019. Airports are coming up in Shirdi, Nanded, Latur, and Solapur and near Sindhudurg. The Sindhudurg airport is expected to be ready by December this year while the final MoU for the Nasik airport has been signed.
We will start the competitive bidding process for the Mumbai Trans Harbor Link in March this year. It will connect Navi Mumbai to Mumbai by 22 km long bridge over the sea. Apart from this, seven Metro projects have been planned in Mumbai. The Nagpur Metro work is on in full swing and a metro in Pune is also being planned.
Helicopter tourism has already commenced with Mumbai Darshan by helicopter. The state government has signed a five year agreement with Pawan Hans. Rides are expected to cost Rs 320 a minute. The initiative has already evoked good response and if successful, then we are looking to start flying to Shirdi, Ajanta/ Ellora and Elephanta.
Maharashtra has only two institutes under the Hunar Se Rozgar Tak initiative for skill development in tourism and hospitality. What steps are being taken to improve the skill development scheme in the state?
Skill development is an important flagship programme of the Government of India and also of Maharashtra. For the first time in history of the state, a separate department has been created for skill development headed by the Principal Secretary with adequate budget allocation. The Pramod Mahajan Kaushalya Vikas Scheme was recently started. We will make use of the over 800 Industrial Technical Institutes (ITIs) in the state. We also plan to set up a Multi Skilling Centre in every district and a Centre of Excellence. We will initiate a dialogue with corporate houses and take feedback from them regarding their manpower requirements.