Patna, Sept. 11: Investors can only hope against hope to set up industries in a land-locked state.

N.K. Singh, special purpose vehicle (SPV) director, Bhagalpur Handloom Infrastructure Development, for which the state government could not hand over land, said: “I had met officials at the Union ministry of commerce and industry today. With the project, which was being developed under the ministry’s Industrial Infrastructure Upgradation Scheme (IIUS), on the verge of cancellation after the state could not provide us land, we proposed that we shall search land for the project. The silver lining is that the ministry has considered our proposal. Though it is very premature to say anything now, we are just hoping that the ministry gives us a chance and sets aside the cancellation order. At present, we are waiting for something positive to come out.”

Singh is in New Delhi at present to return the Rs 20.82-crore project’s first instalment amount released by the Centre in 2011.

However, many local industrialists, who have tried to find their own land for setting up of their projects, had to bite the dust, industry sources said.

“There have been several projects, which could not see the light of day because of the same problem. This project is not expected to take off for now,” an industrialist said, adding: “The Taj group’s willingness to set up a five-star property in the state fizzled out as they were asked to find their own land. Star Cements, the largest manufacturer of cement in northeast India, had also dreamt of setting up a plant in Kahalgaon but backed off. Same was the case with the Perfetti group. These are just few of the many examples. The state government recently talked about assisting investors and helping them out in getting their own land.”

Earlier this year, the state government said it would assist industrialists to strike a better deal with the landowners.