Orissa approves investment of Rs 1 lakh cr

Encouraged by revenue collection to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore from companies with whom MoUs were signed, Orissa government today approved further investment of above Rs 1 lakh crore in aluminium, power, cement and steel sectors, official sources said.

The major expansion projects included proposals of Vedanta Aluminium (VAL), Aditya Aluminium, Hindalco and Jindal India Thermal Power Project.

The state government received Rs 700 crore from steel sector while Rs 300 crore came from aluminium industries, they said.

As many as 88 MoUs were so far signed for setting up industies in steel, aluminium, power and cement sectors.

The government's nod to new projects and expansion proposals was accorded in a meeting of the High Level Clerance Authority (HLCA) chaired by chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

The expansion proposals of three major aluminium producing companises like Vedanta Aluminium, Aditya Aluminium and Hindalco got approval of the HLCA, industries secretary Sourav Garg said.

Aditya Aluminium was allowed to raise capacity of its refinery from 1 mtpa to 1.5 mtpa while the company's smelter having existing capacity of 0.26 mtpa would be expanded to 0,36 mtpa, he said. "The company will invest an additional Rs 11,000 crore in the expansion activities," Garg said.

Similarly, Vedanta's all three proposals to enhance capacity of its smelter, refinery and CPP (captive power plant) were also approved.