BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday launched 19 industrial projects involving an investment of `2,675 crore. He inaugurated seven manufacturing units and conducted the ground breaking for 12 projects through video-conferencing at the Secretariat. Speaking on the occasion, Naveen said two of the projects for which ground-breaking took place on November 16 last year will go into production in about six months.
“It underscores our position as the No 1 State in the country in terms of implementation rate. The grounding of projects is an affirmation of the State Government’s commitment to the industrial growth,” Naveen said.Prominent projects for which ground-breaking was held include a steel making unit of Shyam Metalics and Energy Ltd to be set up with an investment of `870 crore in Sambalpur and a hard board manufacturing unit of Emami Paper Mills Ltd at an investment of `650 crore in Balasore.
The Chief Minister said the State has the vision of becoming the most preferred investment destination in the country for which the Odisha Industrial Development Plan - Vision 2025 has been devised to set up more manufacturing industries with an investment of `2.5 lakh crore generating employment for 30 lakh people.
“We have brought significant business reforms to assist the industries to set up and operate in a conducive and investor-friendly environment. The GO SWIFT portal developed for ease of doing business is first-of-its-kind system in the country and it will redefine G2G interface setting a new benchmark,” he said.
Stating that the Make-in-Odisha conclave in 2016 which helped generate investment intents in diverse sectors, was an important milestone in industrial development, the CM urged all Departments to come together to make its second edition to be held in November a grand success.
The projects which were inaugurated include 3.86 lakh TPA Cement plant of Toshali Cements at Choudwar in Cuttack with an investment of `140 crore, 20 mw solar power plant of Sadipalli Solar set up at a cost of `121 crore at Kesinga in Kalahandi and 35,000 TPA aluminium and alloy conductors and alloy wire plant of Apar Industries set up at a cost of `75 crore at Lapanga in Sambalpur.
Earlier, 15 manufacturing units for which ground breaking ceremony was held in the first phase, had grounded investments worth `11,690 crore with a capacity to generate 8,187 jobs.
These projects demonstrated the State’s vision to broad-base industrial development beyond the mineral-based industries. The projects are in diverse sectors including textiles and apparel, chemicals, fertilisers, cement, food-processing and downstream among others.