Odisha govt approves investment proposals worth Rs 2.04 lakh crore

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Monday approved five investment proposals worth Rs 2.04 lakh crore, which will create employment opportunities for 27,645 people.

The investment proposals were approved in the 20th High-Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the newly inaugurated Kharavel Bhavan conference hall.

All the proposals approved in the meeting belong to the focus sectors identified by the State government-Chemicals & Petrochemicals and Metal Downstream.

In the metal downstream Sector, the HLCA approved the proposal of M/s Jindal (India) Limited to set up a Cold Rolling Complex of 0.50 MTPA and Steel Processing Plant at Kalinga Nagar Industrial Complex with a total investment of Rs 1,676 cores, providing employment to about 1,300 people.

Another the proposal by Talcher Fertilizer Ltd to set up a Coal based Urea Fertilizer complex of capacity 1.99 MMTPA at Talcher with an investment of Rs. 14,732 crores, employing around 550 people were also approved.

In a major breakthrough in the Petrochemical sector, the HLCA gave its nod to two giants in this sector for setting up their projects at Odisha.

The first one was by Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) to set up a Hydrocarbon processing complex comprising of a light crude oil refinery, Aromatics complex and Ethylene Cracker Complex near the proposed Subarnarekha port in Balasore district with a total investment of Rs 78,225.00 Crores, providing job opportunities for around 10,000 people.

Another proposal was by the petrochemical major, Indian Oil Corporation Limited to expand its existing Refinery unit from 15 MMTPA to 25 MMTPA, and setting up of a Petrochemical complex comprising a Dual Feed Cracker, Naphtha cracker and Petcoke Gasification Plant at Paradip with a total investment of Rs 1,00,300 crores, employing around 12,595 people.

The project will ensure the availability of building block feedstock to ancillary and downstream units in the Chemical and Petrochemical sector.

Another the proposal by IOCL, to set up 1.2 MMTPA capacity of PX-PTA (Purified Terephthalic Acid complex) with an investment of Rs 9,136 Crore in its existing Paradip the refinery, employing around 3,200 people, has also been approved in the meeting.

These would not only make the state a Petrochemical hub, propelling the growth of downstream petrochemical units in the state, but also make Odisha, the Energy Gateway of the East. Both the projects being port-based would also facilitate export and import trading.