Guwahati, Apr 24 (PTI) Investment proposals of over Rs 1 lakh crore, which were received during the Advantage Assam business summit, will be rolled out by the end of this year, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Thursday.

The projects to be implemented include investment by both government and private organisations, he said.

The state had received investment proposals of more than Rs 5.18 lakh crore during the two-day business summit in February this year.

Addressing a press conference here, Sarma said, “By December this year, work on projects worth over Rs 1 lakh crore, which were announced during the Advantage Assam summit, will start. In no other state where such summits are organised, such speedy implementation is ensured.” Among the projects is the Guwahati Ring Road, the foundation for which will be laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September, the chief minister said.

“The prime minister will be visiting for the opening of the birth centenary celebration of Bharat Ratna Bhupen Hazarika on September 8. He has also offered his suggestions for a befitting celebration. We will soon be forming the organising committee, for which we have invited the chief ministers of the North Eastern states to be members,” Sarma said.

Talks have been initiated with the Finance Ministry and RBI for a commemorative coin, while more programmes for the year-long celebration will be drawn up in due course, he added.

“During the trip to attend the birth centenary celebration, Modi ji will lay the foundation of this Rs 7,500-crore Guwahati ring road, which also includes a bridge over the Brahmaputra between Narengi and Kuruwa,” he said.

He said the state government will bear 50 per cent of the expenses for land acquisition for the project, and reimburse the forest royalty and GST to the construction company.

The state government will be spending over Rs 1,000 crore for the ring road project, while the central government has sanctioned Rs 3,000 crore as viability gap, Sarma added.

The chief minister said Modi will also inaugurate Numaligarh Refinery’s Bio-Refinery, the first such facility in the country where bamboo will be used to produce ethanol.

Among other projects announced during the business summit, Sarma said the tender for the new Brownfield Ammonia-Urea Complex within the existing premises of Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Limited (BVFCL), Namrup, will be out by September.

Work on the new complex, christened ‘Assam Fertiliser and Chemical Company Ltd’, will commence by December, he added.

Sarma said the Centre’s decision to continue with the functioning of BVFCL while the new company is being constructed is a welcome one.

Whether the two companies will be merged or retained as different entities will be taken once the new one is functional, he added.

The chief minister said he had two meetings with Adani Group officials over the last 10 days, during which he was informed that the new airport terminus at Guwahati being developed by the group will be inaugurated in October.

“Work on the Guwahati aerocity project, announced by the group during the business summit, will commence in October. And if we can provide land and other required logistics, they are keen to start work on all the proposed projects,” he added.

Two more projects – a greenfield highway between Guwahati and Silchar, and a tunnel under the Brahmaputra between Numaligarh and Gohpur – are also nearing approval, the chief minister added. PTI SSG SSG RG