This Article is From Mar 22, 2012

Tamil Nadu CM releases "Vision Tamil Nadu 2023" document

Chennai: Aiming to make Tamil Nadu 'numero uno' state in the country, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today set a target of 11 per cent growth in GSDP by 2023.

Releasing the "Vision Tamil Nadu 2023" document here, Jayalalithaa said, "over the next 11 years, Tamil Nadu will aim to increase its GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product) at a growth rate of 11 per cent or more per annum".

An aspiration of making the state's economy grow at 11 per cent is an "achievable goal", she said, citing that the state had already clocked an impressive growth rate of 13.95 per cent in 2005-06 and the manufacturing sector registered an all time growth of 15.10 per cent.

"Although this growth momentum decelerated in subsequent years, there is no reason to believe that we cannot reclaim the high growth path", she said.

Hoping that the state would have 100 per cent safe sanitation before 2023, Jayalalithaa said open defecation would be completely eliminated in the State by then.

With the state facing severe power crisis, she said one of her vision was to build 20,000 MW of additional power generation capacity in the next 10 years.

"My vision is that every household, every village, every industry or commercial establishment in Tamil Nadu should get uninterrupted power with stable quality", she said.

Besides, she said, the state would require 20 million skilled persons over the next 11 years and added that there was a need to establish 10 or more Centre of Excellence in various fields for this purpose.

Jayalalithaa said 10 existing cities in the State would be developed to world class levels, which would subsequently become the "nuclei and engines of economic growth" of Tamil Nadu.

"All these initiatives warrant substantial investments. We project an overall investment requirement of Rs 15 lakh crore," she said, adding that the State government alone cannot meet the resource requirements.

A substantial portion of the financing for infrastructure has to be mobilised from non-governmental sources, including private sector organisations, banks and foreign direct investment, the Chief Minister said.

Envisaging that Tamil Nadu becoming one of the top three destinations for investments in Asia, she said, "attaining one among the top three positions in Asia would be tantamount to benchmarking Tamil Nadu with countries such as South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia".

She said as part of reaching this goal, her government would nurture "a culture of responsive and transparent governance that ensures progress, security and equal opportunity to all stake holders".

Jayalalithaa said her vision was to set the state on a high growth trajectory and to secure for all its people the benefits of rapid economic growth.
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