MUMBAI, Jan 28: The state government has cleared the plan to set up a new cloth market of international standards at the Bandra-Kurla Complex.This was announced by state minister for labour and construction Raj Purohit at a meeting organised by the All India Association of Industries (AIAI) with a 25-member Belgium delegation.
``The existing cloth-market at Kalbadevi will be shifted to the new location", the minister told The Financial Express. This puts an end to the bitter row between the cloth merchants and the state government over the price at which the area at the complex should be made available to the former.
The merchants have been demanding a reasonable price at the complex while the government wanted the place to be sold at market price. ``Now, we have arrived at a price which is acceptable to both the sides", he said while refusing to elaborate.
He also announced that the government had identified areas for setting up transit camps so that the slum re-development (SRD) scheme was notaffected. Admitting that the SRD scheme has sufferred a `temporary setback' due to crash in the real estate prices in the city, he said the scheme also got affected by the shortage of funds as well as with the lack of transit camps.``The government has to step in to solve the problem of transit camps", said Purohit adding that area belonging to MHADA (Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority) in places including Malad, Santacruz, Mankurd and Borivili will be used for transit camps.
With this, by the first week of April, the government plans to set up one lakh transit houses. An equal number of dwellings will also be constructed under the SRD scheme within nine months of setting up of the transit camps, he added.
Purohit invited the Belgian delegation to interact with the state officials and explore opportunities for investment. According to him, around Rs 15,000 crore and Rs 7,000 crore have been earmarked for development of roads and flyovers in the state respectively. The government has plansto build 34 flyovers in Mumbai and around 54 in the peripheral areas.
Speaking on the occasion, minister of the government of Flanders for public works, Belgium, Eddy Baldewins informed that the exports account for 85 per cent of the gross regional product in Flanders with more than four-fifths of the total output is exported.
For this, Flander's Export Promotion Agency (FEPA) has set up a worldwide network of trade representatives to give maximum support to exports and foreign trade.
The region of Flanders is the northern, Dutch-speaking area in the federal kingdom of Belgium, representing 44 per cent of the nation's territory and around 60 per cent of the population.
Deputy chief of cabinet for public works, transport and town and country planning, Belgium, Toon Tessier said that his government was encouraging more co-operation between the public and private sectors. The decision follows some major blunders committed on account of public partnerships, he added. Tessier felt that the governmentshould not revise the policies frequently. ``The policies should be steady over a period of time to give concrete shape to developments", he added.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
