The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : ‘Mining policy eyes foreign investment’

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Thursday, Mar 27, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

‘Mining policy eyes foreign investment’

Rs. 5 lakh crore for infrastructure: TSR

Photo: G. Krishnaswamy

Exchanging notes: Union Minister T. Subbarami Reddy and founder chairman of SEBI G. V. Ramakrishna at a conference in Hyderabad on Wednesday. -

HYDERABAD: Union Minister of State for Mines T. Subbarami Reddy has said that the National Mining Policy will bring foreign investment into the mining of gold and diamonds in the country.

Inaugurating the Infrastructure Today International Conference, organised by ASAPP media group and International Infrastructure Consultants, here on Wednesday, Mr. Reddy said that the policy would soon come up for debate in Parliament.

Gold worth Rs. 20,000 crore could be produced annually. Companies from countries like Australia would participate in the mining and apply for prospecting licences. He said that Rs. 5 lakh crore would be spent in the development of mining infrastructure. The Government intended to spend the profits from the mining sector on infrastructure development.

Mr. Reddy expressed concern over the increasing prices of steel and cement. “If the Government doesn’t address these problems, the infrastructure industry will collapse.”

Earlier, former Member-Secretary of Planning Commission Rajeev Ratna Shah said that there were no sophisticated debt instruments in India and advocated a mechanism to ensure long-term debts. The Government envisaged an investment of US $ 494 billion (Rs. 20,27,000 crore) in the 11th Plan period for infrastructure development. He also suggested the need for having independent regulators for all infrastructure projects.

Founder chairman of Securities Exchange and Board of India (SEBI) G. V. Ramakrishna said: “We are still at the learning curve, we should learn lessons from our mistakes.” He urged all the stakeholders to address issues like capacity, connectivity

and construction.

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