BHUBANESWAR: The State Government has decided to put a dedicated mechanism in place to expedite implementation of investment proposals through appropriate monitoring and management. It has also been decided to have a separate cell, consisting of nodal officers from Industries, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and Employment and Technical Education departments. The cell will facilitate better coordination and meet manpower requirement of industries by developing training modules and placement of the trained people. Chief Secretary BK Patnaik reviewed the progress and achievement of DFID-supported projects in the State at the Project Steering Committee meeting here on Wednesday. A presentation, made by DFID, said the State’s capacity for maintaining higher growth rate and poverty reduction have been enhanced through DFID support. In the first phase, DFID supported the Odisha Public Sector Reform Programme (OPSRP), Odisha Public Enterprise Reform Programme (OPERP) and Industrial Policy Resolution (IPR). These projects were completed in 2008. The second-phase support has been extended to Odisha Modernising Economy, Governance and Administration Programme (OMEGA) which is in operation since 2009. OMEGA has been introduced with broad objectives of higher growth and sustainable poverty reduction. The objectives will be achieved through various contours like increasing private sector investment, improving revenue management and enhancing capacity of pro-poor service delivery mechanism. The meet revealed that DFID support to the State enhanced economic growth. The State’s growth rate was 8.73 per cent per annum during last year which was higher than the national average of 7.63 per cent. The State overcame severe fiscal deficit between 2007-08 and 2009-10 and poverty declined by 7.25 per cent between 1990-2000 and 2004-05. Further, poverty reduced by 11.73 per cent from 39.90 per cent in 2004-05 to 28.17 per cent in 2007-08. The meeting decided that the DFID assistance will be utilised for promotion of public-private partnership, MSME development, implementation of skill development strategy of State Employment Mission and facilitating market linkages to the poor producers in identified products. Target has been set to achieve 20 per cent compounded annual growth rate in MSME and 10 per cent growth in job placement. Development Commissioner RN Senapati, Principal Secretary, Finance, JK Mohapatra, Principal Secretary, MSME, NK Sundaray, DFID Economic Advisor Soumen Bagchi, Government Advisor (DFID) Renu Deshpande, State DFID representative Supriya Patnaik and Industries Secretary Parag Gupta were present.
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