ROURKELA: Even as Make In Odisha Conclave 2018, the flagship biennial business event of the State Government, got underway on Sunday, local entrepreneurs, owing allegiance to Rourkela Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI), have pleaded for fresh investments in the district.
RCCI president Subrata Pattnaik, lauding the efforts of the State Government led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for the conclave, also appealed to create fresh investment opportunities for the district.
He said the conclave focuses on different sectors of the economy, including ancillary/downstream industries, food processing industries, chemicals & petrochemicals, textiles & apparels, electronics & manufacturing and tourism and Sundargarh district has huge potential for fresh investments in these sectors.
Pattnaik said major business houses of the country, along with industry delegations of South Korea, Japan, Germany, France, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are likely to attend the conclave which may result in more investments decisions in Odisha. He appealed to the Chief Minister to consider Rourkela and rest of the mineral-rich Sundargarh district as potential business destinations. The RCCI president said Rourkela is the first industrial hub of the State and continues to be the nucleus of manufacturing activities.
Pattnaik said besides RSP at Rourkela, Sundargarh district has OCL cement plant of Dalmia Bharat Group, Larsen & Toubro Ltd, IFGL Refractories Plant, JSW Cements, 37 Sponge Iron plants, 34 Induction Furnace units, 20 Rolling Mills and numerous other MSMEs.
He said there is ample scope for more investment in steel, power, cement, automobile and food processing plants, adding that setting up of new mega industries would lead to establishment of new MSME units and also boost the existing engineering units with opportunities for supply of spares and capital equipment.