Vijayawada: The state govt on Thursday placed five bills and six policies in the assembly for approval and amendments. While the Land Grabbing Prohibition Bill aims to bring in a new legislation by repealing the existing one, the Electricity Duty Bill, Medical Practitioners Registration Bill, NTR Health University Amendment Bill, and Homeopathy Ayurvedic Medical Practitioners Bill are for making amendments.
Speaking on the six policies introduced with the aim of creating 20 lakh job opportunities in the next five years, chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu said in the late 90s, the then TDP govt encouraged students to take up technical education and increased engineering colleges in Andhra Pradesh. “Today, there is one engineer in every family in the state. Now, we are focusing on entrepreneurship with the aim to create one entrepreneur in every family,” he said.
Terming the last five years of YSRCP regime as the “darkest period in AP’s history”, he said the state went backwards in terms of development. “Despite signing 227 MoUs in the last five years, not even a single investment materialised,” he alleged, while recalling how he promoted information technology after economic liberalisation, which created huge wealth with the knowledge economy.
Stressing his new mantra ‘speed of doing business’, Naidu said the new policies have been introduced with attractive incentives to increase the speed of doing business. “Senior officers are being appointed as escort officers to coordinate with big investors (more than ₹1,000 crore in investments). Real time approval portals and self certification models are being developed to increase the speed of doing business. The govt aims to make Andhra Pradesh a global destination for investments by creating industry-friendly ecosystems. All the policies will be in force for five years with specific targets. The Economic Development Board (EDB), which was scrapped by the previous YSRCP govt, is being revived,” he explained.
He said the govt is aiming to attract ₹35 lakh crore in investments, including ₹83,000 crore foreign direct investment (FDI). “At least one industrial park should be established in every assembly constituency. Creation of jobs is the top priority as the state has the advantage of technically skilled youth. With a 960km-long coastline, port-based industries can change the face of AP, which can be turned into a manufacturing hub by effectively utilising the resources,” Naidu said, and stressed on reducing the cost of production by utilising advanced technologies to bring in sustainability.
To encourage private investments in developing industrial parks, the govt is ready to support those who come forward with incentives to create the required infrastructure for setting up industries. “Private persons can also pool or acquire lands by making the landowners stakeholders. The govt is ready to encourage innovative ideas. We have brought in clean energy policy to reduce the cost of energy and food processing policy to reduce wastage and value addition,” he added.
The AP govt recently announced its new Industrial Development Policy, MSME and Entrepreneur Development Policy, Food Processing Policy, Electronics Policy, Private Industrial Parks Policy, and Clean Energy Policy.
