Making an all out bid to whet investor interest in the state, Chief Minister, D. V. Sadananda Gowda assured industry bigwigs at the Global Investors’ Meet (GIM-2012) , which kicked off in the city on Thursday, that the state government would increase its expenditure on infrastructure from 3.2 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product to 8-9 per cent during the 12th Five Year plan, beginning 2012-13.
Delivering his presidential speech at the event which could translate into mega bucks for Karnataka, Mr Gowda acknowledged that the task of building infrastructure was enormous and required annual investments of Rs 30,000 crore during the next decade. “The state will develop a bouquet of projects to meet this infrastructure gap,” he promised, answering the unspoken questions of industrialists looking for facilities to set up base in the state. Drawing attention to tier-2 and tier-3 cities, he said the state government had provided separate budgetary allocations for improving their roads, bridges, and drainage and waste management systems to ensure their development.
In an obvious attempt to set at rest fears over land acquisition problems dogging investors in Karnataka, he said the state was now not only building a land bank near Devanahalli but had also begun a voluntary land bank scheme with a database of land owners interested in selling their properties. "The government is committed to playing the role of a catalyst and a facilitator to maintain the state’s position as India’s most preferred destination for investments," he declared, also dwelling on the government's attempts to promote Karnataka as an R&D hub of the country.
“We propose to establish a technology, innovation and research center in Muddenhalli in Chikkaballpur, the birthplace of Sir M. Visveswaraiah, which will be modleled on the Industrial Technology Research Institute in Taiwan,” he disclosed.