E-Paper
Trillion dollar economy: Uttar Pradesh govt extends deadline for bids again, addresses queries
Nearly 170 queries were raised at the pre-bid conference held here recently and needed follow-up measures. Hence, the state government has decided to make the necessary corrections. The revised documents will be uploaded soon.
The Uttar Pradesh government has yet again extended the deadline for the submission of e-bids for the Request for Proposal (RFP) for the appointment of a consultant who would work out a roadmap to make the state a trillion-dollar economy in five years (2022-2027).The e-bids may now be submitted up to May 24. The technical bids will be opened on May 25.
Nearly 170 queries were raised at the pre-bid conference held here recently and needed follow-up measures. Hence, the state government has decided to make the necessary corrections. The revised documents will be uploaded soon.
“The deadline for the submission of bids has been extended to May 24, 2022. We received nearly 170 queries and discussions have been held on each and every one of them. Appropriate measures have been taken to address these queries. With approval of the competent authority, the corrected document will be uploaded soon,” said Alok Kumar (III), secretary, planning, programme implementation and science and technology department, government of Uttar Pradesh.
Those aware of the developments said chief minister Yogi Adityanath wants immediate measures to give a boost to the economy that will subsequently help in achieving the objective of making the state a trillion dollar economy. After assuming office for his second term, Yogi Adityanath has taken up the issue on top priority. The state government, on March 15, 2022, had floated global bids to invite proposals for appointment of the consultant. The bids were to be submitted by April 14 then. Later, the deadline was extended to April 29 and now again to May 24.
“The state government should try to wrap up the process of selecting the consultant as early as possible so that sufficient time is available for preparing and implementing the road map for a trillion dollar economy. At the present juncture, U.P. is better placed to improve upon its previous growth performance. However, the challenge to meet the target in the stipulated time would remain daunting,” said Professor Yashvir Tyagi, former head of department of economics, Lucknow University.
The Uttar Pradesh government and the prospective consultant will face a great challenge in the coming months as UP’s GSDP will need a four-to-five-time push.
The Central government has also stepped up efforts to achieve the ambitious target of making India a five trillion dollar economy.
“Two cabinet committees have accordingly been set up to deal with the issues of investment, growth, employment and skill development. This is in order to address the challenge of bringing appropriate policy framework and other ancillary reforms to meet the aforesaid commitment…. Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state and plays a critical role on the road to India becoming a five trillion dollar economy. The state contributes eight per cent of the national GDP. Aligning the state with the national target, the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh is keen to play a leading role,” reads the RFP.
It further reads, “The GSDP has already touched ₹15.80 lakh crore (US dollar230 billion) with a rich growth rate 7 per cent over the previous year. However, it would be a challenging task to boost up the size of the GSDP by nearly five times to reach the target of One Trillion-Dollar in five years (2022-27), discounting for the dollar fluctuations and global trends. It enables and would require sustained and aggressive efforts at the state level.”
The RFP also says “This herculean task demands some giant steps to be taken by the state government to move forward. It needs some well thought out and long-term strategies on a sustained basis. This would also require organisational restructuring, focused policies and rules for more effective governance, faster decision-making process and improved accountability,” reads the RFP.
The Directorate of Economic and Statistics of the UP government, in its advance estimates, has indicated the GSDP for 2021-2022 remained at about Rs. 19.10 lakh crore.
During Yogi’s first term, the state government had begun working on the idea of making the state a trillion-dollar economy after Prime Minister Narendra Modi floated the idea at Lucknow in 2018.
Speaking at the Uttar Pradesh Investors’ Summit 2018 on February 21, 2018, Modi recalled his association with holding the investors’ summit as chief minister of Gujarat and as the PM. He said Maharashtra, too, had set a target to become a trillion-dollar economy.
“Can Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh compete with each other to become a trillion dollar economy? Will the Uttar Pradesh government compete with other states? The more the competition, the more will be the investment. This will result in the creation of more jobs and strengthen the concept of cooperative federalism,” said the PM.
The state government soon began various rounds of discussions with reputed institutions on the issue and a formal process of floating global bids for appointment of a consultant began in 2020.
