Kamal Nath seeks Chinese investment in J&K, North East highways - The Times of India
Kamal Nath seeks Chinese investment in J&K, North East highways
Tags:highway projects|chinese investment
Visiting minister of roads and highways Kamal Nath on Wednesday assured Chinese companies that India was ready for investments in highway projects in all regions including border areas including Jammu and Kashmir and the North East.
He even offered to help them address concerns over legal limits on equity investments in Indian road companies. China's state owned investment firms have requested that they be treated on par with investors from Singapore.
The move comes soon after sharp differences erupted between the two countries over China's reluctance to give a visa to an Indian military general based in Jammu and Kashmir and the controversy over Chinese investments in the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.
Nath, who met his counterpart Li Shenglin, heard requests that two Chinese investors, China Investment Corporation and Social Security Fund, should be treated as separate entities for the purpose of implementing the cap on 10% equity investment as per the SEBI rules.
He offered to take up the request with other ministries in New Delhi. The minister is due to attend his second meeting to seek investments at the Chinese coastal city of Tianjin tomorrow.
India has recently awarded a project to a Chinese joint venture in Jammu & Kashmir and there was no objection to more investments in highways in this State as well as the North Eastern areas, Nath said.
"The government of India cleared [the project in Jammu and Kashmir] from a security point of view," he said. "We have no such concerns...We awarded the contract because Chinese involvement is in terms of investment, project management and technology. They were not sending people there to dig roads, so there was no issue."
The new visa rules allowed only foreign workers with specialized technical skills to work on Indian projects, which is why there was not much problem with additional Chinese investments, he said.
Several Chinese firms, including CGGC, CEC, Gezhouba Water and Power and JTEC are involved in highway projects in India, he pointed out.