Maharashtra’s foreign investment three times Gujarat’s: CM Fadnavis

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the state Legislative Assembly on Friday reaffirmed that Maharashtra tops the chart when it comes to Foreign Investment FI in India In fact the CM dismissed claims by the Opposition that Gujarat is the favourite destination for investment and is aheadIn his reply to the debate on the Governorrsquos address Fadnavis maintained that in the first nine months of the financial year Maharashtra received R139 thousand crore through FI The FI investment received by Maharashtra is three times higher than that of GujaratldquoEven if one combines the investment received by Karnataka Gujarat and Delhi they still fall way short of Maharashtrarsquos totalrdquo the CM addedThe CM cited that in 201617 the state had received R131 thousand crores through FI ldquoIt is the Reserve Bank of India RBI that releases the number after the investment is done This year fourthquarter numbers are yet to be announced and added to the totalrdquo Fadnavis claimedLast year when Fadnavis and a delegation visited Davos to attend the World Economic Forum WEF the opposition especially Shiv Sena UBT leader Aditya Thackeray had criticised the government for signing MoU with Indian companies Fadnavis stated that in 2022 Aditya Thackeray too went to Davos and signed MoUs with Indian companies onlyMetro networkFadnavis stated that the Metro 3 line will be completely operational by June Further speaking about the Metro infrastructure the CM stated that between 2014 and 2019 10 Metro lines were approved of these some are operational some are in the final stages and some are under construction ldquoEfforts would be made for all Metro lines to be operational by 2027rdquo the CM addedReplying to a query on stalled Thane Metro work the CM said the Metro has two phases One from Thane to Bhiwandi and the second from Bhiwandi to Kalyan ldquoNearly 80 per cent of the work on Phase 1 is complete In Phase 2 some rehabilitation is required along 5 km of the line As a solution the government has decided to go underground for this stretch Once the project report is received the work will commence at a good pacerdquo Fadnavis said The CM added that Metro Line 2B D N Nagar in Andheri to Mandale would be completed by October 2026 ldquoPhase 1 would start by December 2025rdquo he saidCoastal RoadFadnavis said his government feels that the Coastal Road till Virar is a solution to decongest traffic on western line Fadnavis pointed out that tenders for Versova to Madh and Versova to Bhayander have been floated For taking the bridge to Virar the proposal through the government of India has been given to JIKASolar subsidyThe landing cost of power per unit comes to around R8 for the state government But it gives subsidies of R65 to farmers and provides electricity at R150 But by December 2026 all the farmers will get their power through solar ldquoAt present of the 16000 megawatts MW 2000 MW is through solar By December 2026 all power supply requirement for farms will be through solar energyrdquo the CM said Fadnavis further stated that this will drastically bring down the subsidy cost that the state government has to bearOn rift within MahayutiSpeaking about reported rifts between him and Shinde the CM said ldquoWe all three Fadnavis Pawar and Shinde are having coordination At times in some of the meetings of the three two or one of us are not present Immediately the media people speculate rifts within the government This is not the case but without verifying this news is carriedrdquo