Russian, Chinese cos keen to invest in Odisha NIMZ at Kalinganagar

The National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ) in Odisha proposed to developed at Kalinganagar, home to a cluster of steel industries, has attracted interest from steel investors in Russia and China.

“A Russian company evinced interest to establish a speciality steel unit within NIMZ at an investment of Rs 3.5 billion. A few downstream steel companies from China are also keen to invest. Kalinganagar, the site of our NIMZ offers good scope for steel downstream investments. We have 825 acres in the zone which can be readily offered to the industries”, said an official source.

The official refused to name the investors as the intended proposals were still at a nascent stage.

The state government has decided to implement the NIMZ through an existing SPV (special purpose vehicle)- Jajpur Cluster Development Ltd. In this JV, the Kalinganagar Industries Association holds 51 per cent equity, the rest 49 per cent stake is of Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco).

An outlay of Rs 106.27 billion is pegged for developing the external and internal infrastructure for the zone. The Union government will pitch in with a funding of Rs 42.41 billion. The residual funding is apportioned between Idco and the private partners. With an initial investment of Rs 38.16 billion, the first phase of the NIMZ is targeted for completion by 2020.

The NIMZ is expected to draw investments worth Rs 2.5 trillion and generate employment for 0.1 million people. The manufacturing hub is to house units in metals & mining, automotive, steel and downstream industries.

Implementation of the NIMZ is planned in a staggered manner in three phases running into 15 years. Among the infrastructural linkages, an inland water terminal has been proposed on the southern part of NIMZ near Pankpal village on Brahmani river bank to handle cargoes like coal, iron ore and chromite. A greenfield airport is also proposed at Kalinganagar.

The NIMZ is envisioned as a combination of production units, public utilities, logistics, environment protection mechanism, residential areas and administrative services.

Such zones would have a processing area where the manufacturing facilities along with associated logistics and other services as well as required infrastructure will be located. The processing area may include one or more Special Economic Zones (SEZs), industrial parks, warehousing zones and export-oriented units. Besides, there will be a non-processing area to include residential, commercial and other social and institutional infrastructure.