The Odisha government has accorded in-principle approval for five different projects having 27.5 million tonne steelmaking capacity at an investment of Rs 1.46 lakh crore.
The state, which started its steel making journey from just two million tpa in 2000, has so far enhanced the capacity to generate 30 million tpa and with addition of another 27.5 million tpa will take the capacity to 57.5 million tpa.
The approval will also provide Keonjhar district with a mega steel plant of three million tonne capacity. This is the first big investment in manufacturing in Keonjhar.
Apart from this, the approval to JSPL’s expansion plan of its Angul plant to 25.2 million tpa will make the company the world’s largest single-location steel plant.
The approval was cleared at the State High Level Clearance Authority, chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The new investment to the tune of Rs 1,46,172 crore in metal and metal downstream sectors during the COVID-19 pandemic also made the state one of the favoured investment destinations in the country.
The state has been able to attract investments to the tune of Rs 2.96 lakh crore in 2020-21 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, and with the additional investments the total investments since 2020 will be Rs 4.43 lakh crore in the state.
These five projects are expected to create employment opportunities for 26,959 persons. The projects will help to achieve the goal to produce 100 million tonne of steel by 2030. The state currently has a production capacity of 30 million tonne.
The projects which got approval included the expansion of Bhushan Power and Steel integrated steel plant from five million tpa to 15 million tpa at an investment of Rs 55,000 crore. The project will be set up at Rengali in Sambalpur district and generate potential employment opportunities for over 10,000 persons.
A proposal for the expansion of Tata Steel crude steel production from three million tpa to eight million tpa, hot rolled coil from three million tpa to seven million tpa, 2.2 million tpa cold-rolled products and two million tpa long products against an investment of Rs 47,599 crore to be set up in Kalinga Nagar, Jajpur, also received the government’s nod. This will generate employment opportunities for over 4,625 persons.
The expansion of Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) six million tpa existing integrated steel plant from the proposed capacity of 18.6 million tpa to 25.2 million tpa at an investment of Rs 24,652 crore to be set up in Angul also received a nod. The project will generate employment opportunities for over 1,000 persons.
This proposed investment will take JSPL’s total investment to Rs 1,00,670 crore, making it the largest single-location steel plant capacity in the world.
The expansion of Rungta Mines’ integrated steel plant from the proposed capacity of 2.85 million tpa to 7.55 million tpa by adding a capacity of 4.7 million tpa at an investment of Rs 11,001 crore to be set up at Jharbandh in Dhenkanal district. This will generate potential employment opportunities for over 6,200 persons.
Similarly, the expansion of Rungta Mines steel plant capacity from 0.53 million tpa to three million tpa at an investment of Rs 7,920 crore also got a nod. The project will be set up at Karakhendra in Keonjhar district, and generate employment opportunities for over 5,134 people.
Moreover, several steel and downstream industries are already in various stages of implementation.
