Khandu pleads Centre for foreign investment

| 10 Feb 2019 7:57 AM GMT

OUR CORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up the issue of China’s objection on foreign investment in the State.

Khandu was hinting at the objection raised by China in June 2009 after the Asian Development Bank (ADB) board of directors and member countries had endorsed a Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) for 2009-12, which included an irrigation project.

“Arunachal Pradesh is a potential State but due to an objection of the neighbouring country, foreign investment is not possible to tap the resources,” Khandu said while addressing a function at Indira Gandhi Park here, where Modi laid foundation and inaugurated several ambitious projects.

“I hope in the coming days under your intervention, the issue will be resolved so that we can convert our potentials into capital,” the Chief Minister said.

Although the ADB member countries had backed a document which included a flood- management project in Arunachal Pradesh, pressure from China forced the Bank to withdraw the project in 2009 and acknowledge it was “a mistake”.

China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of its territory.

India during 2010 dropped Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim from a World Bank loan proposal to avoid running into Chinese objections over multilateral financial aid to projects in the border areas, an official on condition of anonymity said.

The initial proposal for Rs 11,000 crore loan to strengthen electricity transmission and distribution in the northeastern region covered Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim. After excluding the two States, the loan amount was around Rs 8,115 crore.