15 Things You Should Know About Advantage Assam

Big Shots from global industrial and political arenas descended to the state of Assam for the ‘Advantage Assam’ global investor’s summit on February third and fourth. The state received a golden opportunity to showcase its all-around potential and possibilities. No stones were left unturned in utilizing that international attention towards the inherent strength of Assam and also North East as a whole towards areas like tourism, hospitality, handloom, textiles, floriculture, tea, oil, gas, agriculture etc. With participation from all the big industrialists of the nation to representatives of ASEAN and BBN countries, this region is going to yield a lot with the Act East Policy in place eventually making it the gateway to South-east Asia.

So here are 15 things that you must know about Advantage Assam –

Number 1 – Let’s Know the policies and the acronyms.

With advantage Assam, a lot of policies & acronyms surfaced so it might have been hard to keep track of those in this busy schedule. The first one, of course, is the Act East Policy, reframed from the look east policy, focusing on the extended neighborhood in the Asia- Pacific region. This brings us to the ASEAN, which stands for Association of Southeast Asian Nations. ASEAN broadly is a regional intergovernmental organization comprising 10 South East Asian countries. Some other acronyms that got attention are BBN, meaning Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal. PRAGATI-Act East, where PRAGATI means Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation. Etc

Number 2 – Which VVIPs embraced the event?

Prime Minister of Bhutan, Delegates from 23 nations, including Cambodia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Laos, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Japan attended the event alongside Indian corporate heavyweights like Mukesh Ambani of Reliance,

N. Chandrasekaran of Tata Sons, Sun Pharma's Dilip Shanghvi, Amor Abrol of Air Asia and Spice Jet's Ajay Singh. Acharya Balkrishna of Patanjali. S Rajamani MD IRL Microsoft also marked their presence.

Number 3 – Let’s count the crores

Let’s take a brief look at who promised to spend how much?

An investment of One lakh crore saw 200 MoU’s being inked. The major contributors in the race were Reliance industries who pledged to invest 2500 crores in the next years in sectors like retail, petroleum, telecom, tourism, and sports, which has the potential of creating 80,000 jobs.

Rs 1300 crores announced for Natural bamboo mission re-construction in Assam. 1000 crore from the World Bank for construction of inland waterways. Tourism sector got 1500 crore investment. Tourism got 736 crores, Infrastructure got 2347 crore. ONGC 13,000 crore. OIL 10,000 crore. And BCPL signed 13 MoUs worth Rs 300 crores. Century Ply 2,100 crore, SafeExpress 100 crores.Dalmia 1200 crores. The 5 major PSUs namely OIL, ONGC, GAIL, IOCL, and NRL are jointly going to set up a company for a 1500 km gas pipeline from Guwahati to Tinsukia via numaligarh with an estimated cost of 6000 crores.

Number 3- Twin Tower- a feather in the cap for the state

Now the most catching of all, the twin tower trade center. A MoU has been signed for the same with NBCC India. The project costing Rs 1950 crores will be implemented at Basistha crossing near NH 37. This 65 stories architectural marvel is proposed to be completed within a duration of 60 months. The project will tend to make NE the nodal point for connectivity with South East Asia and also give birth to a rapid urbanization in the state. These will give a major boost to the business and will create an international environment for business.

Number 5 – Mercedes Busses to give next level luxury for passengers

Under the banner of Advantage Assam, the state is also going to enjoy the facilities of high-class Mercedes busses under PPP model. The buses will be similar to the already running Volvo Luxury Coaches. A deal has been inked that Mercedes will bear the investment cost and ASTC will facilitate the whole process as per a 90:10 model. All coaches shall come with inbuilt chemical toilets and nearly 170 of them will be functional by March. 

Number 6 – Tea of Assam gets the attention it deserves

The Assam Tea Pavillion was not just a great crowd puller in the advantage Assam, but also helped the state bag a great chunk of investment in the entire event. The conclave saw a footfall of over 4000 visitors which included important delegates of the nation and outside. The various types of tea served included the Crush tear curl, the orthodox, oolong etc. The tea pavilion was a huge success and

McLeod Russel, the world’s largest tea growing company is going to invest Rs 500 crore in Assam in the tea sector in the next 5 years. There will also be a 120 crore investment for the proposed tea park in Chayygaon.

Number 7 – Medi City for a new age of Medical Care

Advantage Assam not only wooed the industrialists but also planted a seed for the medical tourism sector in future. Govt of Assam signed a MoU with Medanta to open a multispeciality hospital in Assam. Not only that Tata Trusts is also going to operate 17 cancer care centers in partnership with Assam government across 15 districts in the state from next year, entailing an investment of around Rs 2,000 crore. This plan is to build capabilities in existing public health system for the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer. Along with that, the Indo-UK Institute of Health will invest 2,700 crores.

Number 8 – Ola River Taxi services

And the all-new ola river taxis are here. Started as a pilot project, this initiative has 15 to 20 seater boats operational with a motive to connect the two banks of Brahmaputra. Plans are there to even connect the airport directly with the inland waterway route. The boats are faster than the traditional ferries and will bring down the commute time to just 20 minutes, which via road takes 45 minutes.

Number 9 – Skill City to empower the youths

To meet the huge demand of workforce in the state, with all these industries being set up in the state and to ensure that the youth of this state has the required skills for employment. Asian Development Bank is all set to bring a mega skill city near Mangaldai. The project cost of 1000crore will have an intake capacity of 10,000. The areas of skill development will include healthcare, hospitality, electronics, IT, agriculture etc. The first phase of this has started with an agreement being signed with a Singapore based Technical Education Institute. The project to be operational by the mid of this year. The skill development mission also held discussions to set up a mega institute of media and film sector with the help of Whistling Woods International of Subhash Ghai. For the youth, Reliance also decided to establish a football academy with the help cooperation of Govt of Assam.

Number 10 – NE’s first English NEWS channel

North East’s first English NEWS channel is a unique gift of Advantage Assam. The channel is not only for the NE but also reaches out to the ASEAN countries. The channel is going to play an important role in highlighting the diverse culture and potential of the region. A venture of Pride East Entertainment Pvt Ltd the channel was launched by Spiritual Leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, in the presence of CM of Assam and other dignitaries. Plans are there to broaden the reach of its voice to regions abroad.

Number 11 – Air Connectivity to be rejuvenated

Improving the air connectivity of the region remain one of the highlights of the event.Air Asia assured that Air Asia will connect Guwahati with neighboring countries in near future. Spice Jet stressed upon the idea of introducing seaplane in the Brahmaputra waterway and also proposed to transport the Assam Agricultural Products via spice jet. MoU has been signed with Pawan Hans to connect all the major towns of Assam with helicopter connectivity. Lokapriyo Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport also saw a huge investment for expansion and upgradation. Airport Authority of India also made it operational 24 x 7 for this summer.

Number 12 – Foundation of a Tech City

Advantage Assam gifted the state a tech city. Foundations of the 125 crore tech city, which is an electronics manufacturing cluster, of 100 acres were laid at Palasbari in Kamrup district. The tech city will have state of the art facilities for manufacturing electronic products, along with other manufacturing support services such as BPO, Skill Development Centre, Data Centre, Testing Lab, Tool Room, etc. They also launched the NIXI Node - Internet Exchange Point (IXP) in Guwahati, which is the country's first and only Neutral Internet Exchange. They also launched a few products designed and developed by the Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering & Research (SAMEER) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology which include a microwave tea drying system, universal moisture meter, and a radio frequency based disinfestation system.

Number 13 – Cleanliness and Beautification of city

Not only did the Guwahati Municipality Corporation, the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority and the Kamrup Metro District Administration set an example of the cleaning and beautifying the entire city in a short period, the steps have also been taken to ensure the cleanliness to last longer. To keep the city clean and clear all the branding promotions at the road dividers would be removed forever, unauthorized posters, banners, hoardings will not be allowed in the city, along with all that an app is going to be released to give the city related grievances.

Number 14 – Branding the Xajpani

The “Heritage Alcoholic beverage of Assam” xajpani is all set to get in branded stores all with this advantageous wind. The Assam agricultural university signed a MoU with Maverick technologies to let the company use the technique evolved by the varsity to produce xajpani commercially. This commercial development will include 10 to 13 percent of alcohol to increase its shelf life. This oldest fermented alcoholic beverage produced by indigenous communities will reach a new height with its commercialization.

Number 15 – Smart City projects gets a fresh pace

With 2347 crore being invested for infrastructure, the SMART city projects are going to get a new turbo boost. With a large population migrating to the main cities, the government is planning to use the investment to make the city smart with adequate water supply, adequate electricity supply, improved sanitary system, affordable housing plans, safety etc. Earth Cutting causing landslides and most importantly the recurring artificial floods are in the priorities for this plan.

So these are the 15 things how Assam is going to usher into a golden era.

Do drop your comments below as to how Advantage Assam will touch your lives in future.