Bhubaneswar: Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik has propsed for an exclusive Japan Industrial Cluster and Township near Bhubaneswar, the capital city of the State. He assured that the State government will provide all necessary facilities for the purpose.
Patnaik was discussing with the Japanese ambassador Satoshi Suzuki about Japanese investment in Odisha, here on Thursday. A high level official delegation led by union steel and petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan was also present in the meeting.
The chief minister propsed that Japan be the country partner in the forth coming Make in Odisha conclave to be held in November, this year.
Patnaik said that Odisha today is the highest producer of steel in the country. The strong base of steel making in the State provides huge opportunities for ancillary and downstream industries. Thus the State government is focusing on encouraging value addition in steel and stainless steel so as to achieve at least 50% value addition by the year 2030. In this context he proposed Japanese investments in sectors such as automobile, food processing, chemicals and petro-chemicals.
Giving a presentation, the union steel ministry additional secretary said that the Centre aims at development of eastern India through establishment of integrated steel hubs for which Odisha has the potential. The eastern belt has the potential to add more than 75% of the country’s incremental steel capacity envisioned by the National Steel Policy. It is expected that out of the 300 million tonnes capacity by 2030-31, over 200 million tonnes will come from this region, he added.
Odisha steel minister Prafulla Mallick, chief secretary Asit Tripathy and union steel secretary were present in the meeting.
