Idco identifies two lakh acres for creating land banks

The state owned Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) has identified more than two lakh acres of compact patches of land suitable for industrial development in the state.

Idco, also the nodal agency for land acquisition, has undertaken steps to create land banks for establishment of industries. It has accorded priority to 10 districts like Jagatsingpur (Paradeep), Bhadrak ( Dhamra), Cuttack , Khurda, Dhenkanal, Angul , Sundergarh(Rourkela), Jharsuguda, Jajpur( Kalinga Nagar) and Balasore for creation of land banks.

This was revealed today at a high level meeting chaired by chief minister Naveen Patnaik at the state secretariat here. The move for creating land banks is aimed at providing land to the upcoming industries in hassle free manner. In Odisha, big ticket projects including Posco are facing stiff opposition from the locals for acquisition of land. Arcellor Mittal, in 2013, had scrapped its proposal of setting up a 12 million tonne integrated steel plant in Keonhar district citing inordinate delay in land acquisition as one of the reasons.

"Idco has identified four lakh acres of land for industrial purposes. About two lakh acres of land are in a contiguous patch as per the Odisha Space Applications Centre (ORSAC) map. Idco in the first phase has taken up 70000 acres of land for acquisition. The revenue department will take necessary steps for getting cabinet nod on the matter", said Debi Parasad Mishra, state industries minister.

Meanwhile, the chief minister advised Idco to run in a more professional manner and directed the agency to split target dates for completion of sector specific industrial parks into monitorable milestones. He asked the chief secretary to review the development every month and report to him. Idco has created special purpose vehicles (SPVs) for various industrial parks such as for steel downstream at Kalinga Nagar, Aluminium Park at Angul, Plastic Park and Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) at Paradeep, Electronics Park and Special Economic Zone at Bhubaneswar. Similarly, SPVs have also been created for railway corridor and sports development in the state.

While Idco targets to complete the work on Angul Alumunium Park by December 2016, Paradeep Plastic Park by July 2016, Bhubaneswar Seafood Park by December , 2016 and Electronics Park by December, 2017. The Aluminium Park is being developed by a SPV called Angul Aluminium Park Private Ltd (AAPPL), a 50:50 joint venture between Nalco and Idco. Besides, Idco has undertaken the job of implementing two SEZs - Infocity and Infovalley in Bhubaneswar and four PPP (public private partnership) projects, Bhubaneswar Biotech Park, Balasore Plastic Cluster, Rayagada Food Park and Bhubaneswar IT Park.

It is also developing Paradeep PCPIR, Kalinga Nagar National Investment Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ) and Dhamara Special Investment Region. Patnaik asked Idco to take up CSR (corporate social responsibility) activities more seriously and expedite work on projects like crafts museum, mission shakti buildings and Krishi Bhawan.