Odisha to register Gopalpur SEZ land in Tata Steel name soon

The Odisha government has decided to register 2970 acres of land acquired at Gopalpur in Ganjam district for setting up of a steel plant by Tata Steel in mid '90s in the name of the company to enable it set up an Industrial Park and multi-purpose Special Economic Zone (SEZ) there.

"We will registered the land in the name of the company soon, so that the project will be expedited" said state chief secretary, Gokula Chandra Pati here on Sunday. He was reviewing the status of different projects in Ganjam district.

Though the land was initially acquired for a mega steel plant by Tata Steel, the company had later shelved the project and decided to use the land to set up an Industrial Park and multi-product SEZ instead. Chief minister, Naveen Patnaik had laid foundation stone for the Industrial Park in August 2010, though the land was yet to registered in the name of the company.

Meanwhile, the validity of the approval for SEZ has expired on December 31, 2014. "The company has applied for extension of the SEZ approval", said the chief secretary.

The Gopalpur SEZ was recommended by the Odisha government for approval by Ministry of Commerce. The BOA has approved the SEZ. However, since the land registration is still under process, the notification is yet to be done, said a company spokesperson.

Tata Steel aims to start operation of the SEZ from 2016-17 and has engaged Jurong, a Singapore-based consultant, for development of its master plan. An expert team of the consultant had visited the proposed SEZ and Industrial Park sites few months back. The team had also visited the nearby Gopalpur Port during this visit. Besides the SEZ, Tata Steel will also develop the Industrial Park which aims to attract investment to the tune of Rs 10,000-crore to Rs 15,000-crore. As the anchor tenant of the Industrial Park, the steel major is setting up a 300,000 tonne per annum (TPA) ferrochrome plant, bill to be the Asia's largest single location Ferro Chrome Complex (FCC) there. The first phase of the project comprises a 55,000 tpa high carbon ferro chrome plant, being built at a cost of Rs 400-crore. "The work of the ferrochrome plant is going on and it is expected to go on stream from July 2015", a company official said.

The park is likely to attract downstream investments in sectors like auto components, gems & jewellery, apparel, specialty chemicals, ores and minerals processing, logistics and warehousing and marine food processing.

As many as 656 core families and 989 extended families of at least five villages near Gopalpur were displaced when the land was acquired for the Tata Steel's project. While the families of Sindhigaon, Badapaur, Patrapur, Kalipalli and Paikapada were displaced for the purpose, families of other eight villages lost their agricultural land.

Meanwhile, a new compensation package has been announced for the project affected persons by the government recently, which will entail additional expenditure of Rs 300-crore by the company.