Noida to be developed as biggest hub in north India: UP CM

Uttar Pradesh's Noida will be developed as the biggest hub in north India, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday said.

Stating that the state has secured the second position in the country in 'Ease of Doing Business', he said it has been an outcome of the sustained efforts of the state government during the last three years.

He said the state has strived to develop infrastructure in terms of power, road, communication, transport, beside strong law and order to achieve the dream of one trillion economy status in India while contributing to the country's 5 trillion economy target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to a statement issued here, Adityanath while presiding over a meeting of high-level Empowered Committee of 'Invest UP', said Noida will be developed as the biggest hub in north India.

He said out of the memorandums of understanding (MoUs) worth Rs  4.28 lakh crore, signed during the UP Investors Summit 2018, the MoUs worth Rs 2 lakh crore have already come on the ground.

In addition to this, the UP government has received over 50 investment proposals worth over Rs 7,000 crore from the investors of about 10 countries, including Japan, the US, the UK, Canada, Germany and South Korea who want to shift their units from there to Uttar Pradesh. He said Nivesh Mitra portal, which provides 146 services, has been quite successful with a track record of 98 per cent redressal of the problems of the investors and entrepreneurs.

The chief minister said that UP has a ready land bank of 20,000 acres on which industries can be set up. He said the government is coming out with comprehensive land policy, besides formulating new Pharma Policy and Data Policy.

"Defence and aerospace, warehousing, data centres, electrical vehicles and pharma sector are some of the emerging investment centres in the state. The government's ambitious project of Defence Corridor has promised an investment of Rs 50,000 crore in the next two years and offers a good investment opportunity," he said, adding that the revised MSME policy and start-up policy has already given impetus to the growth potential of the state. He said the traditional areas like electronics, IT, food processing, dairy, textiles, tourism and films are still the fancied investment destination while solar power, bio-fuel and civil aviation are joining these as potential investment hubs.

The chief minister pointed out that UP, which contributes 8 per cent of the country's Gross Domestic Product, with a population of 24 crores is a big market in itself. Talking about infrastructure development, he said the state is going to have a huge network of expressways, which will criss-cross the entire country.

A 340-km-long Purvanchal Expressway from Lucknow to Ghazipur, 290-kms long Bundelkhand Expressway linking Chitrakoot to Lucknow-Agra Expressway, 90-km Gorakhpur link Expressway and 170-km Prayagraj link Expressway will be there in the state soon, the chief minister said.

"Not only this, but the state government has also decided to construct a 600-km-long Ganga Expressway from Prayagraj to National Capital Region through Hardoi, Shahjahanpur, Kannauj and Meerut. This is going to be the longest Expressway of the country," he added. As another landmark in the infrastructure, the proposed Jewar international airport in Noida will be the biggest in north India.

Besides, the Kushinagar airport is also coming up which will cater to eastern Uttar Pradesh a great deal, Adityanath said.

Besides ministers and senior officers, the representatives of the industry who took part in the meeting included Sangita Reddy, President, FICCI, Nikhil Sawhney, Chairman, CII, Northern Region, D K Agarwal, President, PHDCCI,  Pankaj Kumar, President, IIA, Sharad Kumar Sarraf, Trade Promotion Council of India, Shri Mohit Singh, Chairman, Trade Promotion Council of India and  Baldev Bhai Prajapati, President, Laghu Udyog Bharti.

(Photo: PTI)