09-02-2005, 01:34 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>On the day when Budhha seeks Chinese FDI, CPM wants pvt parties out of airports upgrade </b>
Pioneer News Service / New Delhi
In a startling contrast, the day West Bengal Chief Ministers Buddhadev Bhattacharjee meets Chinese officials in his continuing effort to woo foreign capital for West Bengal, the CPI(M) asks Centre to halt modernisation of Mumbai and Delhi airports with the help of private investors.
After aggressively wooing Singapore and Indonesian investors, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday met Chinese officials in the Capital and assured them that their investments in the Left-ruled State would be a profitable venture.
During discussions with top officials, Mr Bhattacharjee briefed them about the positive investment environment in West Bengal, which was attracting large quantum of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and had been in the eyes of major foreigninvestors.
The Chief Minister, however, made it clear to the potential investors that their investment should meet certain conditions like FDI leading to employment generation, capacity augmentation and technology upgradation.
<b>The Chinese officials informed Mr Bhattacharjee that several Chinese firms were interested in investing in the Left-ruled State</b>. To this, Mr Bhattacharjee said they were "most welcome". Sources said at least eight Chinese firms were ready to invest in West Bengal.
The CPI (M) politburo, however, issued a statement asking the Centre to halt the bidding process for modernisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports, pending resolution of some "critical" issues like sustainability of other airports that were dependent on these two profit-making ones. <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif' /><!--endemo-->
"The government has overlooked several key concerns like sustainability of the other airports, which were till now being largely financed by the major profit earned by these two airports," said the statement.
The CPI (M) also asked the government to take note of the observations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the matter,<b> saying the modernisation programme at Mumbai airport could "only enhance its technical capability by ten to 15 per cent and in any case will become redundant in addressing growth projections beyond 2012".</b>
The party also said the assurance given earlier by the government to examine the alternative proposal of the Airports Authority of India Employees Joint Forum had also been ignored.
"In these circumstances, the politburo urges the government to halt the present bidding process pending the resolution of these critical issues," the CPI (M) said.
The CPI (M) has been maintaining that there was no difference between the approaches of the West Bengal Chief Minister and the party on FDI. The top party leadership has been saying that the conditions, put forth on Thursday by the Chief Minister, were consistent with the party line and all FDI in West Bengal adhered to these conditions.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Pioneer News Service / New Delhi
In a startling contrast, the day West Bengal Chief Ministers Buddhadev Bhattacharjee meets Chinese officials in his continuing effort to woo foreign capital for West Bengal, the CPI(M) asks Centre to halt modernisation of Mumbai and Delhi airports with the help of private investors.
After aggressively wooing Singapore and Indonesian investors, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday met Chinese officials in the Capital and assured them that their investments in the Left-ruled State would be a profitable venture.
During discussions with top officials, Mr Bhattacharjee briefed them about the positive investment environment in West Bengal, which was attracting large quantum of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and had been in the eyes of major foreigninvestors.
The Chief Minister, however, made it clear to the potential investors that their investment should meet certain conditions like FDI leading to employment generation, capacity augmentation and technology upgradation.
<b>The Chinese officials informed Mr Bhattacharjee that several Chinese firms were interested in investing in the Left-ruled State</b>. To this, Mr Bhattacharjee said they were "most welcome". Sources said at least eight Chinese firms were ready to invest in West Bengal.
The CPI (M) politburo, however, issued a statement asking the Centre to halt the bidding process for modernisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports, pending resolution of some "critical" issues like sustainability of other airports that were dependent on these two profit-making ones. <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif' /><!--endemo--> "The government has overlooked several key concerns like sustainability of the other airports, which were till now being largely financed by the major profit earned by these two airports," said the statement.
The CPI (M) also asked the government to take note of the observations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the matter,<b> saying the modernisation programme at Mumbai airport could "only enhance its technical capability by ten to 15 per cent and in any case will become redundant in addressing growth projections beyond 2012".</b>
The party also said the assurance given earlier by the government to examine the alternative proposal of the Airports Authority of India Employees Joint Forum had also been ignored.
"In these circumstances, the politburo urges the government to halt the present bidding process pending the resolution of these critical issues," the CPI (M) said.
The CPI (M) has been maintaining that there was no difference between the approaches of the West Bengal Chief Minister and the party on FDI. The top party leadership has been saying that the conditions, put forth on Thursday by the Chief Minister, were consistent with the party line and all FDI in West Bengal adhered to these conditions.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->