MoU signed players invest Rs 2.15 lakh cr in Odisha

Investments worth Rs 2.15 lakh crore have grounded in Odisha from industries that have signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state government.

The state government has signed MoUs with 93 players with steel sector leading the pack at 48. Other MoUs include 28 in the power sector, three in aluminium, four each in cement and ports and the rest for creation of downstream units.

"The MoU signed players had committed investments of Rs eight lakh crore of which Rs 2.15 lakh crore has already been grounded. Investments worth Rs 1.09 lakh crore have grounded in the steel sector alone", said a state government official.

As many as 50 steel investors had signed MoUs with the state government, envisaging a steel capacity of 79.82 million tonne and committing investments worth Rs 2.22 lakh crore.

Of this, ArcelorMittal has withdrawn from its 12 million tonne mega steel plant and the MoU with Maharashtra Seamless has been scrapped due to unsatisfactory progress on the project.

As many as 34 MoU signed steel units have commenced partial production.

Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd, Essar Steel Odisha Ltd, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL), Deepak Steel & Power Ltd, Visa Steel, Jindal Stainless Ltd, Adhunik Metaliks Ltd, Bhushan Steel Ltd and Brahmani River Pellets Ltd (BRPL) are amongst the players to have started partial production.

The proponents who have invested significantly on their projects are Bhushan Power & Steel (Rs 25,000 crore), Bhushan Steel Ltd (Rs 21817 crore), JSPL (Rs 17536.41 crore), Tata Steel (Rs 13625 crore) and JSL Ltd (Rs 8333.32 crore).

In the power sector, the independent power producers (IPPs) have invested Rs 32991 crore on their proposed coal-fired projects in Odisha.

Among the 28 players that have inked pacts with the state government, two have commenced commercial production- Vedanta Group firm Sesa Sterlite and GMR Kamalanga Energy Ltd.

Sesa Sterlite has fully commissioned its 2400 Mw (4x600) power project at Bhurkamunda near Jharsuguda. The company has invested Rs 8038 crore on the plant.

GMR Kamalanga has commissioned three 350 Mw units of its proposed 1400 Mw power plant at Kamalanga in Dhenkanal district. It has invested Rs 5590 crore.

Others like Jindal India Thermal Power Ltd (JITPL), Ind-Barath Energy Utkal Ltd and Monnet Power were in the advanced stage of commissioning their projects.

The IPPs that have made substantial investments on their projects are JITPL (Rs 4564.26 crore), Monnet Power Company Ltd (Rs 4100 crore), Lanco Babandh Power Ltd (Rs 4850 crore) and Ind-Barath Energy Utkal Ltd (Rs 2954 crore).

The IPPs have a combined production capacity of 37,000 Mw. The state's share is pegged at around 6000 Mw from these projects.

In the aluminium sector, the state government had inked pacts with three players- Vedanta Aluminium (now Sesa Sterlite), Aditya Aluminium and home grown RSB Metaltech Ltd. Of these, Sesa Sterlite has invested over Rs 40,000 crore on its alumina refinery at Lanjigarh and smelting facility at Jharsuguda.

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