Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy today said his government's industrial policy unveiled almost a year ago was intended to promote several enterprises including those in information technology sector.
Participating in an interactive session organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII-Southern Region) here, he said, "the government has an industry-friendly approach. Several steps were taken to ensure that Puducherry had good air connectivity by operating flight services between the Union Territory and Hyderabad."
He said flight services would be introduced in the next phase to link Puducherry with Bengaluru, Kochi, Coimbatore and Tirupati.
"Already, the port here is being developed in association with Chennai Port Trust to handle cargo containers," he said adding "we will tide over all pinpricks, criticisms and comments in implementing the port project."
Stating that a collaborative initiative was already in place with the CII, the Chief Minister said "the government is at the same time keen that industries polluting the environment would not be encouraged in Puducherry."
The new industrial policy had already resulted in vibrant enquiries from investors from different parts of the country and also from countries like Germany, the UK, France and the Gulf to set up units here.
The concessions and sops the government would offer under different heads and also accessibility of officials and ministers here were other added features as Puducherry aimed to emerge as an industrial hub soon, he said.
The smart city project sanctioned for Puducherry by the Centre involving an outlay of Rs 1,850 crore and one for creation of assured drinking water facility and sanitation measures at a cost of Rs 1,400 crore would be highlights of the union territory's development, the Chief Minister said.
He said a French institution would fund the water supply and sanitation schemes.
Narayanasamy urged entrepreneurs setting up units here to ensure that 60 per cent of the jobs in their undertakings were earmarked for the local youth as it would help tackle the unemployment problem.
CII Southern Region chairman Vikram Kirloskar was among those who spoke.
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