In order to keep his promise of putting Uttar Pradesh on the development map and rebooting investment in the state, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has now decided to take matters in his own hands and remove the roadblocks faced by entrepreneurs wanting to set up businesses in the state.

Yadav announced that UP will participate in the Invest North 20013 conclave being organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on August 26-27 in the Capital, in which he is likely to be present. He will also attend the next meeting of Udyog Bandhu, the nodal department dedicated to facilitate and promote industry in the state. As chairman of Udyog Bandhu, Yadav will be the first chief minister to attend the meet in 12 years. The last CM who chaired the meeting was Rajnath Singh in 2001.

The Invest North 20013 conclave is expected to provide a platform for corporates to engage with various state governments of the northern India at the highest level and also aims to tap the interests of the global investor community towards the northern states.

Speaking to FE, an official of the state government said bringing investment is one of the top most priorities of the state government. ?The chief minister is really keen utilise the platform to send a strong message to investors about the government?s seriousness on building a strong infrastructure in the state. We hope to have some constructive interaction,?? said the official.

The conclave will showcase investment opportunities available in eight northern states. Apart from UP, the other states that have confirmed their participation are Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.

US India Business Council (USIBC), Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), Hong Kong Trade Development Council, Chindia Chamber of Commerce & Industry and India Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce & Industry (IBCCI) have confirmed their participation as Overseas Institutional Partners.

Giving details of the conclave, a CII functionary said more than 100 projects for investments across the 8 northern states would be on offer under the PPP mode, which includes 25 infrastructure projects, DMIC projects, airports, expressways and highways, water and sewerage, Global City, Metro Rail.

?As many as 25 projects would be on offer in the energy sector itself, including those in renewable energy segment, which include hydel and solar projects. Apart from that, 15 tourism projects would be on offer for prospective investors, which would include tourism circuits and tourism infrastructure projects. 20 manufacturing specific and industrial infrastructure projects such as textile and apparel parks, IT hardware parks, plastic city, agro processing hubs, export promotion industrial parks, multi modal logistics parks, gems and jewellery parks and light engineering hubs would be on offer along with 20 projects in knowledge-based industries sector such as IT and bio-technology parks,? he said.

Regarding UP?s projects that would be on offer, an official said that while Lucknow-Agra Expressway and Agra airport would be the most ambitious PPP projects, getting the plastic city project, the Trans Ganga Industrial Area near Kanpur, and the super speciality hospital and cancer institute off the ground would be top on the government?s priority list.