Jammu & Kashmir to get Rs 80,000 crore investments: LG Manoj Sinha

Srinagar, Aug 21 (PTI) Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Monday said Jammu and Kashmir will get investments to the tune of Rs 80,000 crore in the near future as the administration is keen to establish an industrial ecosystem that will help the local youth achieve their dreams.

“The kind of enthusiasm I see and the kind of proposals we are getting, I am sure that, in the coming days, we will get investments of Rs 75,000 crore to Rs 80,000 crore. It will provide employment to five lakh people,” Sinha said after laying the foundation stone of a private hospital and medical college here.

Sinha said over the past two years, the Union Territory on an average has got six proposals per day for setting up industrial units.

“If I take average of two years, we have been receiving proposals for setting up six industrial units every day,” he added.

Sinha said the hopsital and medical college project, which is estimated to come up at a cost of Rs 559 crore, was second such project in the valley after Milli Trust launched a similar project earlier this year.

“This is a reflection of our potential in the health sector and it will have a positive effect on other sectors and overall economy as well. I am told that this project is also a kind of foreign direct investment. This is the second such project. We want to create such an industrial ecosystem in Jammu and Kashmir which will fulfil the aspirations an dreams of the youth here,” he added.

On the improvement in healthcare, Sinha said the AIIMS at Jammu is by and large functional while the AIIMS in Kashmir, which is coming up at Awantipora in Pulwama district, is expected to start functioning from next year.

“The highest per capita investment for public healthcare is in Jammu and Kashmir. Efforts have been made to ensure healthcare facilities in far-flung areas as well. Under the Ayushman Bharat, every family in Jammu and Kashmir has got a health insurance of Rs five lakh,” he said.

Arshid Bhat, director of the project, said the construction work on the project will commence from March next year.

“We planned this project two years ago. We will set up a 500-bed hospital and a medical college… All the specilaities will be there and nothing will be left out,” Bhat said.