Bhubaneswar: With the inauguration of two new investment projects for which the ground breaking ceremony had been held in November last, Odisha Monday became the top state in the country in terms of the rate of investment implementation.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Monday launched 19 investment projects worth Rs 2675 crore from the Secretariat through videoconferencing. They together will create employment opportunities for 8,953 people.
Speaking on the occasion, Naveen said, “Today we have witnessed the ground breaking of 12 new projects and inauguration of seven. This is an affirmation of our commitment to the industrial growth of the state.”
“I am delighted to inform you that two of the projects for which groundbreaking took place November 16, 2017 have been inaugurated today and will go into production in a little over six months. This underscores our position as the number one state in India in terms of investment implementation rate, he said.
Stating that his government has a vision of becoming the most preferred investment destination in the country, the CM said, “We have devised the Odisha Industrial Development Plan Vision 2025 to set up more manufacturing industries on focus sectors with an investment of `2.5 lakh crore, generating employment for 30 lakh people.”
He further said the ‘Make in Odisha’ Conclave in 2016 was an important milestone in our journey towards industrial development and helped generate investment intent in diverse sectors other than in traditional areas of mines, metals and energy.
“To ensure that investments intents received during the conclave are converted quickly, my government has worked with a dedicated focus to ensure that all required support such as land, utilities and departmental clearances are made available to them expeditiously,” the CM said.
This was the second groundbreaking ceremony held in the aftermath of the ‘Make in Odisha’ Conclave 2016.
The first groundbreaking ceremony was held in November, 2017 for 15 manufacturing units that added up to investments of `11,690 crore with a scope to generate 8,187 jobs.
The logo for the ‘Make in Odisha’ Conclave 2018 was also unveiled by the Chief Minister.
The second edition of the biennial event has been scheduled to be held in Bhubaneswar from November 11 to15, 2018. Prominent projects for which ground-breaking was held Monday included a unit of Emami Paper Mills Ltd (Rs 650 cr) at Balgopalpur Industrial Estate, Balasore with a potential to create 1,750 jobs.
Ground-breaking was also conducted for a 0.77 MTPA steel making unit of Shyam Metalics & Energy to be set up at Rengali (Rs 870 cr) with a potential to generate 1,373 jobs.
Similarly, a 3.86 lakh TPA capacity cement plant of Toshali Cements set up at Choudwar (Rs 140 cr) will generate 170 jobs.