Uttar Pradesh to hold 2nd groundbreaking of Rs 70,000 cr industrial project

Shah, Lucknow: The two-day second groundbreaking ceremony of industrial projects worth Rs 70,000 crore in Uttar Pradesh, will begin in Lucknow on July 28.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will inaugurate the event and Vice President Venkaiah Naidu will preside over the concluding ceremony on July 29.

During the investors' summit held in 2018, the Uttar Pradesh government had signed MoUs for the investment of Rs 4.68 lakh crore with various public sector undertakings, private companies and industrial houses.

State Minister for industrial development Satish Mahana said: "The state government plans to launch industrial and infrastructure projects worth almost Rs 70,000 crore next month. The projects come from the 1,047 MoUs, the state government and companies signed during the 'UP Investors Summit' in Lucknow in February 2018."

The projects lined up for foundation laying at the proposed groundbreaking event pertain to different sectors, including electronics, infrastructure, food processing and textiles.

The companies and industrial houses whose projects are likely to be launched comprise Aditya Birla Group, Vivo, Azure Power, Adani Gas, Samsung, Torrent, Medanta Hospital and JK Cement, among others.

On July 29 last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation of projects worth over Rs 60,000 crore during the first groundbreaking. He had also exhorted Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra to race for becoming India's first trillion dollar state economy.

Later, Uttar Pradesh announced it will organize a second groundbreaking ceremony, but the proposed ceremony was postponed multiple times owing to lack of adequate groundwork, including land acquisition and clearances. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had even expressed displeasure over the delay.

Of the projects launched at the first groundbreaking ceremony in July 2018, the state claims that 29 projects worth Rs 30,000 crore have started commercial production and the rest 52 projects were nearing completion.

The state is also planning to host the next investors' summit in February 2020.

It would be organized on a grand scale to position the state as an ideal investment destination. In the last summit, the state had hosted foreign delegates from Mauritius, Japan, the Netherlands, Finland, Czech Republic, Thailand and Slovakia.