Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday made an offer for an exclusive Japan Industrial Cluster and Township near Bhubaneswar for which the state government will provide necessary facilitation.
The Chief Minister said that Odisha today is the highest producer of steel in India and a strong base of steel-making in the state provides a huge opportunity for the ancillary and downstream industry. He was speaking during a meeting on Development of Steel Cluster and Prospects of Japanese Investment in Steel and Downstream Industries in Odisha, with a high-level Japanese delegation led by Union Minister for Petroleum, Natural Gas & Steel Dharmendra Pradhan and accompanied by the Japanese Ambassador to India, Satoshi Suzuki at the Lok Seva Bhavan.
Stating that the state government is now focusing on encouraging value addition in steel and stainless steel to achieve at least 50 per cent value addition by 2030, he proposed Japanese investment in key sectors like automobiles, food processing, chemicals and petro chemicals.
While urging the Japanese Ambassador to consider it a partner country for the Make-in-Odisha Conclave-2020, the Chief Minister expressed hope for wider and deeper engagement between Odisha and Japanese industries in the coming years.
The eastern belt has the potential to add more than 75 per cent of the country’s incremental steel capacity envisioned by the National Steel Policy. It is expected that out of the 300 MT capacity by 2030-31, over 200 MT can come from this region alone.
Among others, 5T secretary VK Pandian, Odisha Steel & Mines Minister Prafulla Mallick, Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy, Union Steel Secretary and senior officers of Union Steel Ministry and state government were present.
