With the Madras High Court, last week, quashing the ₹10,000-crore Chennai-Salem Expressway project, the number of large projects that have been stalled for one reason or the another now aggregate over ₹70,000 crore threatening Tamil Nadu’s credentials as one of the most attractive investment destinations in the country.
While the environment factor is considered the prime reason in most of the stalled projects, what is worrying is the role of ‘anti-developmental’ elements hijacking the issue to a different level. Whether it is Sterlite, Enayam port project or highways, the trigger may be environment but the anti-development forces bring in other dimensions to it and get the projects stopped, admit environmental experts. After a while, environmental issues take a back seat.
“Yes, anti-development agencies are working full time to stall projects. This will only affect the State’s claim of being an attractive investment. Both the government and the industry need to find a way out,” said a senior company official speaking on behalf of the industry.
Symptoms are already visible. In the second Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet held in February, the State government boasted of signing 304 MoUs with a total committed investment ₹3 lakh crore. What it chose not to say was that just 10 per cent of those investments were from new investors. It appears that new investors are preferring to wait or look at other safer investment destinations.
Government officials tracking investments are worried. “The role of anti-development forces is real and is a national phenomenon. India's largest refinery project in Ratnagiri is stuck because a few farmers have protested,” points out a senior government official adding “yes, the number is high in TN but I don’t see it as it as a dampener if the number of projects that are coming is any indication.”
A balancing act needs to be done on environment, livelihood and ecology. Local people need to be taken in to confidence before starting a project and thorough due-diligence needs to be done, said another government official.
Agreeing with the government official, Anuj Puri, Chairman, Anarock Property Consultants, said sustainable developments that pose minimal or no hindrances to the environment have certainly become the need of the hour. More stakeholders across sectors are beginning to realise the importance of being in coherence with the environment, he said.
Investment in Tamil Nadu is unlikely to see major impact if the viability of the concerned project is not questionable, he said. He pointed to the private equity investment into the State which recorded a 15 per cent increase in 2018 at $577 million, compared to the previous year.
The bottom line is clear: need of the hour is environmentally sound and financially viable projects that balances development with livelihood.