Odisha approves investment proposals worth Rs 2 lakh crore

Odisha government on Monday approved five big ticket investment proposals worth Rs 2.04 lakh crore in chemicals, petrochemicals and metal downstream sectors, officials said.

The proposals got the state government's nod at the High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

"I am happy that ... that some very important and large investment proposals have been approved ...," Patnaik told reporters.

These proposals will create employment opportunities for 27,645 people, Industries secretary Sanjeev Chopra said after the meeting.

The biggest among the five projects that received the state government's nod at the HLCA meeting, was Indian Oil Corporation Limited's proposal to expand its existing refinery unit from 15 MMTPA to 25 MMTPA and setting up of a petrochemical complex comprising a dual feed cracker, naphtha cracker and petcoke gasification plant at Paradip with a total investment of Rs 1,00,300 crore.

This project will provide employment for around 12,595 people. The project will ensure the availability of building block feedstock to ancillary and downstream units in the chemical and petrochemical sector, they said.

The HLCA also approved another mega project involving investment of Rs 78,225 crore by Haldia Petrochemicals Limited (HPL) which proposed to set up a hydrocarbon processing complex comprising of a light crude oil refinery, aromatics complex and ethylene cracker complex near the proposed Subarnarekha port in Balasore district.

This project will provide employment opportunities for around 10,000 people.

Talcher Fertilizer Limited's proposal to set up a coal based urea fertilizer complex of 1.99 MMTPA capacity at Talcher in Angul at an investment of Rs 14,732 crore, also got the HLCA's nod. This project will provide job opportunities for around 550 people.

Another proposal of IOCL, to set up 1.2 MMTPA capacity of PX-PTA (Purified Terephthalic Acid complex) with an investment of Rs 9,136 crore in its existing Paradip refinery also got the approval. This project will create job opportunities for around 3,200 people.

In the metal downstream sector, the HLCA approved the proposal of Jindal (India) Limited to set up a Cold Rolling Complex of 0.50 MTPA and steel processing plant at Kalinga Nagar Industrial Complex in Jajpur district, with a total investment of Rs 1,676 crore, providing employment to about 1,300 people, officials said.

Industries secretary Sanjeev Chopra said the projects approved under petrochemical sector will help Odisha to emerge as a petrochemical hub and augment the growth of downstream petrochemical units in the state.

"This will also make Odisha the energy gateway of the East. Both the IOCL's projects being port-based would also facilitate export and import trading," Chopra said.