Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) is to get its first foreign investment, with Dubai's Emaar Group due to build a $60 million shopping and office complex, as the government looks to stabilise a region. The 5 billion Indian rupee ($60.50 million) development will include a shopping mall and multi-purpose commercial tower in Srinagar, Emaar announced at an investment summit in the city.
The announcement of what the region's government said was its first foreign investment comes after the central government said last week that IIOJK had received record investment of 15 billion Indian rupees ($181 million) in the first 10 months of the 2022-23 (April-March) fiscal year.
Governments have long tried to woo investors, both domestic and foreign, but with little success due to the three-decade freedom movement in the disputed territory.
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"This is the start, we should inspire people, people should aspire to follow us. This is a one million square feet mall with 500 shops and will generate around 7,000 to 8,000 jobs," Jain said after the ground-breaking ceremony for the "Mall of Srinagar".
Emaar, builder of the world's tallest tower, the Burj Khalifa, is Dubai's largest listed developer. The Dubai government owns a minority stake in the developer through its sovereign wealth fund.
Top administrator Manoj Sinha said the project had infused confidence in foreign investors and would boost the region's economy.
In August 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government split the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two federally administered territories as part of an effort to tighten its grip over the region at the heart of more than 70 years of hostility with Pakistan and integrate it more closely with the rest of the country.
The reorganisation was enacted with a communications blackout and a security clamp-down, with the government flooding the heavily militarised region with troops.
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