State to be a petrochemical hub
With the 5T initiative devised by the Odisha Government, where transformation goals will be achieved through teamwork, transparency and technology enablers in a time-bound manner, industrialization is at its peak.
This strategy has already started yielding encouraging results towards the state’s industrial growth, where the State Government has approved five investment proposals envisaging an investment of Rs.204,069 Crore in the 20th High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) meeting on 19 August 2019.
This is the highest ever investment approved by the HLCA so far and was approved under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik.
Sanjeev Chopra, Principal Secretary, Industries, outlined the project proposals for consideration.
These proposals will create employment opportunities for 27,645 people.
All the proposals approved in the meeting belong to the focus sectors identified by the State Government — Chemicals & Petrochemicals and Metal Downstream.
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. It is a total investment of Rs.1,676 crores and will provide employment to about 1,300 people.
Another the proposal by Talcher Fertilizer Ltd to set up a Coal based Urea Fertilizer complex of capacity 1.99 MMTPA at Talcher, District Angul with an investment of Rs.14,732 Crores, employing around 550 people were also approved.
In a major breakthrough in the Petrochemical sector, the HLCA gave its nod to two giants in this sector for setting up their projects at Odisha.
The first one was by Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) 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, District Balasore. It is a total investment of Rs.78,225.00 Crores, providing job opportunities for around 10,000 people.
Another proposal was by the petrochemical major, Indian Oil Corporation Limited 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, District Jagatsinghpur. It is a total investment of Rs.100,300 Crores, employing 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.
Another the proposal by 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 the refinery, employing around 3,200 people, has also been approved in the meeting.
These would not only make the state a Petrochemical hub, propelling the growth of downstream petrochemical units in the state, but also make Odisha, the Energy Gateway of the East.
Both the projects being port-based would also facilitate export and import trading, said a state release on 19 Aug 2019. Fiinews.com
