Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. File photo
| Photo Credit: PTI
Asserting that the faith of the industry and global investors in Maharashtra had been proven at Davos, Switzerland, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday said that memoranda of understanding (MoU) for investments worth more than ₹45,000 crore had been signed on the first day itself of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting.
The MoUs signed at Davos would result in robust employment generation in a variety of sectors in Maharashtra, said a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).
Detailing the MoUs signed and the projects that would come up shortly, Mr. Shinde – whose six-month-old government has been facing flak from the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition for reportedly ‘losing’ big-ticket projects like Vedanta-Foxconn to neighbouring Gujarat – said that a greenfield food processing plant of Rukhi Foods will be set up in Pune at a cost of ₹250 crore.
The project is expected to help in increasing the food processing capacity of the State to a large extent. Similarly, a Greenko renewable energy project with an investment of ₹12,000 crore will be set up in Aurangabad, which will employ 6,300 people, said the CM in the statement.
“A glass tubing project by Nipro Corporation of Japan with an investment of ₹1,650 crore is being set up near Pune and this will boost the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector in Maharashtra. This will create 2,000 jobs. Additionally, an MoU has been signed for the investment of ₹16,000 crore by Berkshire-Hathaway for the development of urban infrastructure in Maharashtra. An MoU has been signed with the University of California at Berkeley for the construction of a smart village in Mumbai as well,” said the statement.
Mr. Shinde, who inaugurated the Maharashtra Pavilion at Davos, told the UK-based Daily Mail that Britain ought to invest more in Maharashtra in a bid to increase mutual economic cooperation.
He also gave detailed information about the ongoing infrastructure development works in Mumbai as well as the State, including the development plan for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and the recently inaugurated state-of-the-art Samruddhi Highway between Mumbai and Nagpur.
Meanwhile, the Opposition MVA, particularly the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction, remained unimpressed by Mr. Shinde’s claims at Davos, with the Thackeray camp MP Sanjay Raut pointedly remarking that the CM should have instead gone to Gujarat to reclaim projects which were spirited away right ‘under his nose.’
“If he [Mr. Shinde] claims that the MoUs signed at Davos will bring robust employment in the State, then my best wishes to him. But, we know how deals are made there. No one can prove how many of these investments and projects will take shape. But we can see in front of our eyes that someone [alluding to the BJP-ruled Central government] took several big-ticket projects to Gujarat when they were slated to come to Maharashtra. So, the CM ought to have gone to Gujarat instead of going to Davos,” Mr. Raut.
