Odisha to get Rs 70,000 cr from coal block auctions

BPCL to set up ethanol plant with Rs 900 crore investment

Odisha would mop up Rs 70,000 crore revenue from auctions of 12 coal blocks, Union minister for mines, power and new & renewable energy said.

"The amount earned by the state government can be used for the welfare of the state. We can see Odisha leveraging its mineral wealth. The state would have a legacy which the future generations can be proud of", Goyal said here at the valedictory ceremony of 'Make in Odisha' conclave.

Goyal called upon industries to focus more on value addition in the state. "I am informed that Odisha consumes only 2158 Mw power and large volumes of power are exported outside the state. Industries here should look more at value addition," he said.

Talking of value addition by National Aluminium Company (Nalco), the Union minister said Nalco is exporting alumina to other countries despite producing it significantly. He said local resistance and some vested interest had barred Nalco from converting more of alumina to aluminium.

"I was shocked when I came to know that Nalco's production capacity is less than half of its private peers. The focus should be on converting the surplus alumina to finished products within Odisha," he added.

He expressed satisfaction over the electrification drive carried out by the state government.

"Work on electrification of 3474 villages in Odisha has been taken up. These are the villages which had not received electrification since independence. Of this, work on 1811 villages has been completed and 486 villages have been electrified. I am told that by May 2018, all villages in the state would be electrified," the minister said.

Referring to Odisha's proposal of using clean cess collected from coal for funding green energy projects, Goyal assured all support, exhorting the state government to send more proposals in solar power and pump storage projects.

Speaking on the occasion, Union minister of state for petroleum & natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan said, the Odisha PCPIR (petroleum, chemicals & investment region) can attract Rs 35,000 crore investments. Oil PSU Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd ( BPCL) would set up an ethanol plant based on agricultural residue at Bargarh at a cost of Rs 900 crore.