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Next month, Karnataka will hold the Global Investors' Meet (GIM) in Bangalore. The State government expects to receive Rs 6 lakh crore worth investment during the meet which will lead to creation of 20 lakh jobs. In an interview to Business Line , the Chief Minister, Mr D. Sadananda Gowda, says that the government is looking beyond the investors' meet for all round growth of various districts in the State. Excerpts of the interview:
BL: With so much of investments coming in, there will be huge pressure on Bangalore to cater to a bigger population. How are you planning to build a safer, cleaner, liveable place for Bangaloreans?
CM: In this year's budget, we have provided Rs 5,500 crore for improving Bangalore city infrastructure. We have commissioned Metro Rail on time, though it wasn't that easy to keep to the deadline. We hope to get clearance for Phase II immediately. This was the indication we got in Delhi about 10 days ago where in we had detailed discussions. About 6.5 km of the stretch is ready and another 10.4 km will be ready in the next eight months. With this, the entire Phase I will be ready by 2013 and Phase II by 2017 at a cost of Rs 26,045 crore.
Signal-free corridors have been taken up on over 50 km at a cost of Rs 426 crore to increase easier and faster movement of traffic. We are also building short flyovers along the ring road linking Silk Board to Bellary Road and then to Mysore Road. All are getting ready except one.
To address the issue of depleting water table and to address water shortage in city, roof-water harvest has been made compulsory. Also BBMP has taken up 15 lakes and BDA 12 lakes for rejuvenation. Next year they will be taking up few more.
On a trial basis, sales tax on diesel has been reduced by 1.25 per cent. We have made an attempt to lower it gradually. Through this exercise, state is to lose Rs 400 crore annually.
Of the total revenues, how much is going towards servicing debt? What are the steps the State has taken to stop leakage of tax collection?
A total of 9.1 per cent of revenue is going towards servicing the debt in 2012-13 and it stood at 8.77 per cent in 2011-12. Practically we are following the norms laid out by the 13th Finance Commission.
Ratio of interest payment to revenue receipts should be 15 per cent. We are very much within the limits. We follow and are guided by the FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management) Act. Karnataka is one of the top three states in fiscal management.
Filing of tax returns has been computerised. This has resulted in better tax collection. Introduction of e-sugam has given a boost in tax collection for us. This concept on electronic governance platform has become easy for traders to calculate their tax and up-link them. Accounting also has become easy and online filing of taxes has been introduced. With this they need not run around offices for filing.
Will only the Bangalore-Mysore corridor benefit from the Global Investors' Meet or will it help the other regions of the State too?
This year's GIM is not just for the Bangalore-Mysore corridor. We have already held regional level investment meets to identify potentials of every region. We are developing tier II cities for orderly growth of the State.
In terms of connectivity, a high-speed train has been planned between Bangalore-Mysore with the assistance of Japan. We are one of the few States to come forward to share 50 per cent of the railway projects' cost for better connectivity within the State. Last year, we allocated Rs 500 crore and we have promised to contribute more.
Karnataka is the first State in the country to prepare a list of 180 infrastructure projects all under PPP mode with a total cost of Rs 2 lakh crore.
What is the current status of the GAIL pipeline which will pass through the State?
About 85 per cent of the work has been completed and it will be commissioned by year end. What next for us is sourcing and pricing the gas. Work is being carried out for distribution to industries en route the gas pipeline in Belgaum, Dharwad, Davangere, Chitradurga, Tumkur and Bangalore. We have also set up a special purpose vehicle with GAIL – Karnataka Natural Gas Limited for this purpose. Already 52 companies along have applied en route the gas pipeline for power generation.
Secondly, all KSRTC bus depots where refuelling takes place will be connected. Thirdly, several of the petrol pumps will be connected inside Bangalore.
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