The Hindu Business Line : Modi wraps up 10-day tour, visits Chinese SEZs

Wrapping up his 10-day tour of Singapore and China, the Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, said he had met with encouraging responses to his quest for foreign investment in the power, petroleum, apparel and jewellery sectors.

Speaking to reporters in Beijing, Mr Modi, who is accompanied by an over 30-member business delegation, said that his tour of Chinese SEZs, including Shenzhen and Shanghai's Pudong, had proved illuminating.

"My goal for Gujarat's SEZs is to develop the same kind of world-class infrastructure that China was able to create and thus attract the kind of investment that is needed to kick start serious economic growth," he said.

In China, SEZ's today account for a quarter of all the country's exports and have proved successful in both attracting FDI and functioning as laboratories with a controlled environment to experiment with reforms.

Shenzhen SEZ

The SEZ of Shenzhen, which Mr Modi visited for example, was a tiny fishing village with a total population of 24,000 people in 1980. After it was designated an SEZ, it gradually came to have the second busiest container port in China, after Shanghai, and its population grew to some 5 million Today, the city enjoys the highest per capita disposable income in the mainland, of $3,500.

Asked about whether he had investigated how the Chinese managed issues surrounding the appropriation of land from farmers to develop their SEZs and loss of revenue resulting from tax breaks offered to corporations within the zones, Mr Modi said that such investigations were outside the purview of his visit. What he wanted to focus chiefly on was the quality of the infrastructure that the Chinese had successfully created and that he wants to replicate for his State.

Direct Airlink

The Chief Minister said he has mooted the idea of a direct airlink between Shanghai and Ahmedabad, given that both are major commercial hubs.

Power sector

Mr Modi revealed that he has asked for Chinese assistance in the power sector in Gujarat in addition to assistance in port development, waste-water recycling and infrastructure related to the petroleum industry. A high-powered delegation from China is expected to visit Gujarat in .