Videocon lines up Rs 15,000-cr investment for Orissa

Videocon Industries Limited on Friday unveiled a Rs 15,000-crore investment plan for Orissa, with proposals to set up a port, a 1,000-Mw thermal power plant and an information technology (IT) and logistics park, including a mobile manufacturing unit.

“We have picked up Orissa as an investment destination because of its proactive industrial policy, competitive advantage and good regional connectivity”, said Director Anirudh Dhoot. “The plant would run on imported coal from Indonesia, where we have our mines”, he said. The power plant would involve an expenditure of about Rs 6,000 crore and would come up in about 800 acres of land. Saying the state government had assured land and water for the power plant, Dhoot said the exact site and the source of water would be known only after a through techno-feasibility study.

The company board had recently approved a proposal for setting up a port in the state. However, the exact location of the project has not yet been decided. “The state government will soon come out with some new sites for port development. After that, we will apply to the government for the allocation of a site for port development in a public-private-participation mode or a joint venture”, Dhoot said.

The company has appointed consultants—Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited and Ernst & Young—to carry out an extensive study on the location of the port and to provide advisory services for the project. The company also plans to set up an IT and logistics park close to Bhubaneswar.