The Odisha Government has accorded in-principle approval for five mega investment proposals worth Rs 92,713 crore which upon grounding will generate employment for 31,979 people. The mega investment proposals were in the metal sector starting from beneficiation to manufacturing of pellets, iron, steel, stainless steel, rolled products as well as cement utilising waste products like slag and fly ash from other industries. The state accorded the green signal for the mega investments at the High Level Clearance Authority (HCLA) meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The five projects for which in-principle approval was accorded by HLCA included expansion project of Jindal Steel and Power’s integrated steel plant in Angul from six million tpa to 18.6 million tpa, 36 million tpa slurry pipeline and 12.5 million tpa cement plant with an investment of Rs 76,018 crore, as per reports.
The proposal of expansion project of Jindal Stainless Steel’s capacity from 1.1 million tpa to 3.2 million tpa and cold rolling mill capacity from 0.8 million tpa to 2.4 million tpa with an investment of Rs 6,840 crore in Kalinganagar, Jajpur, also got the nod of HLCA. Essar Minmet’s proposal of 14 million tpa beneficiation and 14 million tpa pellet plant and 14 million tpa slurry pipeline at an investment of Rs 6,650 crore to be set up in Keonjhar and Paradip also got approval. Expansion project proposal of ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India’s beneficiation plant in Keonjhar from 10.76 million tpa to 16.76 million tpa and pellet plant at Paradip from six million tpa to 12 million tpa at an investment of Rs 2,000 crore, also got approval. Shyam Metalics and Energy’s expansion project of its steel plant project in Pandloi, Sambalpur, from 0.77 million tpa to 2.373 million tpa and rolling mill against an investment of Rs 1,205 crore was also approved.