Chamber appeals to CM to hold next Global Investors Meet in Madurai

The Hindu

a day ago

The Tamil Nadu government should conduct its next Global Investors Meet (GIM) in Madurai as it would attract international investors to bring investments to southern districts of Tamil Nadu, said Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president N. Jagatheesan.
In a memorandum submitted to Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, who was in the city, a delegation led by him suggested to conduct the GIM conclave in Madurai.
A copy of the memorandum, which was released to the media persons on Sunday, said that the GIM was held with the aim of bringing together international investors, industry leaders, government representatives and experts on a common platform.
While Tamil Nadu is considered one of the leading manufacturing States in the country, industrial growth has not been evenly distributed across the State. Compared to the northern and western districts of Tamil Nadu, industrial and economic development in the southern region remains significantly underdeveloped.
With a population of 2.5 crore, south Tamil Nadu - comprising Madurai and 13 other districts - stands to benefit greatly from the establishment of major industries.
This would, in turn, create local employment opportunities, especially for the students graduating from more than 170 engineering colleges in this region. To help catalyze this growth, the government should organise the upcoming GIM in Madurai.
With increasing issues such as population growth and traffic congestion in Chennai, the Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry emphasised the urgent need to establish Madurai as the second capital.
Currently, all government heads of departments are in Chennai. Even to start a small business, entrepreneurs have to travel to Chennai, meet the officials and obtain necessary approvals. Kanyakumari is about 800 km away from Chennai, causing significant costs and time delays. Due to these difficulties, many entrepreneurs find it hard to start even small and micro-enterprises in the southern districts, resulting in the region lagging behind in industrial development.
Other States such as Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh have officially declared second capitals and are operating them effectively.
Andhra Pradesh has made an announcement to set up three capitals, and in Kerala, several high-level government offices and the Kerala High Court function in Ernakulam.
Therefore, it has become necessary and essential to declare Madurai as the second capital of Tamil Nadu. This will enable more efficient administration. Currently, about 42 government departments and 75 commissioner/director offices operate in Chennai.
If Madurai is declared the second capital and a significant number of offices are relocated here, it would open up substantial opportunities for the development and prosperity of South Tamil Nadu.
The airport runway rehabilitation project has been successfully implemented at Varanasi, New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, Mumbai Terminal 2 and Chandigarh International Airport.
In all these airports, while runway expansion work is under way, the underpass work in national highway has been carried out efficiently by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
However, the national highway adjacent to Madurai airport is currently maintained by the State Highways Department, under TNRIDC, which is part of the State government.
Considering the high cost of constructing underpass, the TNRIDC has proposed to reroute the current highway by about excess 7 km as an alternative bypass.
This rerouting means that buses servicing hundreds of villages located south of the airport would have to travel an additional 7 km each way. This results in increased fuel consumption, travel time, and higher transportation costs for the public commuting from the southern region to the city. The added travel distance will also increase the operational expenses of the government transport department by crores of rupees every month due to delays and fuel costs.
If the bypass road is developed and traffic rerouted accordingly, it may take at least 7 more years for the runway expansion work to begin, significantly increasing the project cost and timeline, the delegation said.