NEW DELHI, Feb 15: Arunachal East MP Ninong Ering submitted a report titled ‘Scope of trade and commerce in Arunachal Pradesh’ to the union trade & commerce minister here on Friday.
Highlighting the abundant natural resources of Arunachal, as well as the difficulties in accelerating developmental activities, Ering said, “The long isolation and separation from the mainstream of the country posed formidable problems to the efforts of socioeconomic development of the state. Further, the state’s inhospitable topography, challenging climatic conditions and communication bottleneck make the cost of creation and maintenance of infrastructure very high.”
Arunachal, being one of the special category states, is solely dependent on central assistance for plan investment because of a poor resource base, he said.
Enumerating the scope for development in various sectors of the state, Ering said the hydropower potential of the state has been much talked about “but the success of this sector depends on massive investment by both the public and the private sectors.”
“Making the private sector interested in long-term and heavy investments in the state requires an imaginative public policy. Effective and efficient institutional structures are keys to the development process,” Ering said.
Stressing that transparency and accountability in governance would play an increasingly significant role in fostering economic growth in Arunachal, the MP said “the new strategy should assign utmost importance to employment generation and reduction of inequalities in the distribution of incomes and assets.”
