Chandigarh: Inclusion of Haryana's upcoming satellite towns of Sonepat and Panipat in Centre's ambitious '100 Smart Cities project' can help attract fresh investments worth about Rs 200-300 crore in the region, industry body Assocham said on Monday.
"Rise in industrial investment in sectors like automobile, biotechnology, business process outsourcing (BPO), education, food processing, healthcare, hospitality, IT, petrochemicals, sports goods, textile and others will create about 2-2.5 lakh direct and indirect jobs in this region during the course of the next 2-3 years," read an Assocham paper titled 'Sonepat & Panipat: Strong case for inclusion in Smart Cities Project'.
"Strategic location with proximity to Delhi, speedy development of Kundli-Palwal-Manesar (KMP) Expressway, establishment of world-class educational institutes in Rajiv Gandhi Education City, availability of vast residential/commercial spaces, availability of skilled/unskilled workforce, extension of metro rail services are certain key factors that can drive the growth of this region," said the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India.
"Soaring realty prices in Delhi, Gurgaon and other neighbouring cities present significant business expansion opportunities for domestic and global industries, and that is another key factor which makes both Sonepat and Panipat ideal for being developed as smart cities," said D S Rawat, national secretary general of Assocham, while releasing the chamber's strategy paper.
"Providing tax rebate, concessions on development charges and other related subsidies can further boost economic growth of the region and help realise all-round development of Haryana," said Rawat.
"As a Smart City, both Sonepat and Panipat should be able to offer economic activities and employment opportunities to a wide section of their residents, regardless of their level of education, skills or income levels," said the strategy paper.
The state government and the industry should collaborate to support the required skill development for such activities in a big way as it would help both Sonepat and Panipat in developing suitable environment for economic activities and employment opportunities, the paper added.
The government of Haryana should identify comparative and unique advantages of both the cities together with core competencies in specific areas of economic activities and promote them aggressively by developing required infrastructure and attracting investors and professionals to take up such activities, it further said.
Haryana has enjoyed a positive track-record in terms of overall development, including an average annual growth rate of almost 9% during 2005-06 and 2012-13, ahead of the national growth rate of 8% during the same period.
Besides, the state had also stayed ahead in terms of growth of the gross state domestic period (GSDP) recorded at 6.5%, higher than that of India's GDP (4.5%) in 2012-13.
Apart from this, Haryana also maintains lead in implementation of investment pledged by private and public sources in the state over the years.
"Thus, all the above factors together make Sonepat and Panipat ideal cities which can match the potential of Gurgaon and can establish themselves in the global arena," it said.
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