3 years on, 3 industrial estates fail to start up

Panaji: Exactly three years after industries minister Mahadev Naik said that work on the Shiroda, Panchawadi and Carambolim industrial estates had begun, the three industrial estates continue to languish in the initial stages, frustrating entrepreneurs and industrialists.
The three-year delay in setting up the much-needed industrial estates has not only made business plans redundant, but also led to monetary losses and wastage of time.
In 2012, industries minister Mahadev Naik had said that work to complete the industrial estate at Carambolim village was on at a fast pace and that the government wanted to do away with the problem of unemployment. On July 30, the same minister said that the land acquisition process had not been completed.
The other two industrial estates, which are situated in Ponda taluka are no better. Stuck in the development phase, they expose the government’s false optimism about fast-tracking industrial growth, investment and employment generation in the state. So lethargic is the government on bringing them on stream that Goa Infrastructure Development Corporation has not even bothered to erect sign boards.
When Naik announced that that the two industrial estates were being set up he had added that Shiroda would be earmarked for pharmaceutical companies while Panchawadi would be for small and micro manufacturing units. GIDC had also confidently stated that the plot demarcation process at Panchwadi had commenced.
Exactly three years later, not a single company has been allotted any plot at Panchawadi. A casual visit showed a handful of workers and an earthmover working on a partly completed storm water drain that lines the only tarred road that exists. The only infrastructure present is a water tank and survey markers.
Further north, the industrial estate at Shiroda appears no different. “Plots have already been allotted at Shiroda and if the industrial units are fast, they can commence operations within the next six months,” a GIDC official says.
An industrialist who had applied for land at Shiroda was flummoxed. “With even the main access road not ready, it is anyone’s guess how I am supposed to take possession of my plot and setup a plant in six months,” he said.
Industrialists have other issues to worry about. After having paid 15,000 as processing fees which are non-refundable, 5,600 for various clearances and having put in much higher amounts into research and development, design fees, entrepreneurs are given an excruciating wait. “Does the IDC compensate the person who gets delayed allotment of plot for more than three months?” asked an entrepreneur who gave up a high paying corporate job to start his own venture.
“As time passes, the cost of raw material, change in minimum wages, increased taxes and not to forget competition from industries that were able to start faster, it appears I have lost even before beginning,” a Panchawadi industrial estate hopeful added.
Another industrialist who intended to start a manufacturing unit found to his horror that his time waiting for a plot was used by competitors to start a similar manufacturing unit in the state. “I applied in May 2014 and I was called to present my project in January 2015. A year-long wait is too much when you have a business idea because by then it may be obsolete,” the industrialist said who chose to be quoted only by his last name, Naik.
So while the state government may like you to believe that employment and industry growth is upmost on its mind, ground reality has a different story to tell.