Odisha identifies two lakh acres for land bank

Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO), the nodal agency for land acquisition in Odisha, has identified over 2 lakh acres for creation of land bank, an official said on Friday.

To create land bank for industrial development, IDCO has identified compact patches and land suitable for setting up industries without any hassle, it was revealed at a meeting, on which Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik presided, on Friday.

The land has been identified in 10 districts of Jagatsinghpur (Paradeep), Bhadrak (Dhamara), Cuttack, Khordha, Dhenkanal, Angul, Sundergarh (Rourkela), Jharsuguda, Jajpur (Kalinga Nagar) and Balasore.

Earlier, IDCO asked the district collectors that the unobjectionable government land, unsurveyed government land, degraded waste land in contiguous patches should be identified for creation of such land bank. ,

Since many major projects including Posco, face land acquisition hurdle to set up their plants, the government hopes that creation of land bank would be helpful for the industries.

The chief minister has directed the agency to split target dates for completion of sector specific industrial parks into monitorable milestones.

He asked the IDCO to take corporate social responsibilities activities more seriously and expedite projects like Crafts Museum, Mission Shakti building and Krishi Bhawan.

IDCO has created Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) for various industrial parks such as Steel Downstream at Kalinga Nagar, Aluminium Park at Angul, Plastic Park and PCPIR at Paradeep, Electronics Park and SEZ park in Bhubaneswar, an official said.

It has also developed SPVs for a railway corridor and sports development. The agency has set deadlines for completion of several projects like Angul Aluminium Park by December 2016, Paradep Plastic Park by July 2016, Bhubaneswar Seafood Park by December 2016 and Electronics Park by 2017.

Two SEZs projects, Infocity and Infovalley in Bhubaneswar and four PPP projects Bhubaneswar Biotech Park, Balasore Plastic Cluster, Rayagada Food Park and Bhubaneswar IT parks, have also been taken by IDCO.

The IDCO is also developing three investment regions Paradeep PCPIR, Kalinga Nagar National Investment Manufacturing Zone and Dhamara Special Investment Region, where it aims to attract investment and create job potential for the people of the state.