The day after ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India inked an agreement with the Odisha government to set up 12 mtpa integrated steel plant in Kendrapada district, Minister of Steel and PNG Dharmendra Pradhan congratulated both by saying the mega steel plant will bring a new wave of economic development and employment generation in the state.
ArcelorMittal first signed a similar memorandum with Odisha in 2006 to build a 12 mtpa plant but pulled out in 2013, citing inordinate delay and problems with acquiring land and securing iron ore linkages. The new MoU was signed on Thursday 8 years after the previous plan failed to take shape.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and steel tycoon Lakshmi N Mittal were present during the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at Lokaseva Bhavan.
On Friday, Pradhan said in a statement: This mega steel plant in Kendrapada will bring a new wave of economic development and employment generation in Odisha and will give a boost to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of Purvodaya and Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
Mittal had met the Union minister on Tuesday in which the growth of steel industry in India, particularly in eastern India was discussed. Pradhan had earlier launched Mission Purvodaya in the steel sector to drive growth of eastern India to make it an integrated steel hub through setting up a steel cluster and greenfield capacity addition.
The mission is in line with Prime Minister’s vision of Purvodaya for driving growth of eastern India, and will contribute to achieving National Steel Policy’s envisioned capacity of 300 MTPA by 2030.
The Centre is committed to provide all kinds of facilities for setting up of this mega steel plant. The 12 MT steel plant is a culmination of the Government of India’s efforts towards bringing in investors for wealth creation and employment generation through supportive policy reforms such as National Steel Policy as well as facilitative infrastructure. This ArcelorMittal-Nippon mega steel plant in Kendrapada will benefit from massive infrastructure developments in the region over the past six years such as the expansion of Paradip port and setting up of Mahanadi riverine port, key freight and passenger rail corridors such as the Paradip-Haridaspur new line, fast-track construction of highways etc, the official statement said.
Odisha has always attracted interest among steelmakers as it is home to about one-third of India’s reserves of iron ore. While steelmakers in public and private sectors have a significant presence in Odisha, foreign firms have so far failed to establish any major manufacturing capacity in the state.
(With inputs from agencies)
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