Odisha to become petrochemical hub of East; investments worth over Rs 2 lakh cr get govt nod

The Odisha government has approved five investment proposals to the tune of Rs 2,04,069 crore in the High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday.

According to the state government, this is the highest ever investment approved by the HLCA so far, and 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.

Informing about the decision, Patnaik said, "Some important and large investment proposals have been approved in today's High Level Clearance Authority meeting".

In a major breakthrough in the petrochemical sector, HLCA gave nod to two giants in this sector for setting up their projects in Odisha.

The first proposal of Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) to set up a Hydrocarbon processing complex comprising of light crude oil refinery, Aromatics complex and Ethylene Cracker Complex near the proposed Subarnarekha port, in Balasore district, with a total investment of Rs 78,225 crores, providing job opportunities for around 10,000 people.

The second 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 in Jagatsinghpur with a total investment of Rs 1,00,300 crore, employing around 12,595 people.

Another 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 refinery, employing around 3,200 people, has been approved in the meeting.

Amongst others, the HLCA approved the proposal of Jindal (India) Limited in the metal downstream sector. The company proposes to set up a Cold Rolling Complex of 0.50 MTPA and Steel Processing Plant at Kalinga Nagar Industrial Complex in Jajpur, with total investment of Rs 1,676 crores, providing employment to about 1,300 people.

Also, Talcher Fertilizer Ltd's proposal to set up a Coal based Urea Fertilizer complex of capacity 1.99 MMTPA at Talcher in Angul district with investment of Rs 14,732 crore, employing around 550 people was also approved.

Sanjeev Chopra, Principal Secretary, Industries said, "I hope these projects not only make the state a petrochemical hub, propelling growth of downstream petrochemical units in state, but also make Odisha, the energy gateway of the East. Both the projects being port-based would also facilitate the export and import trading."

( With inputs from ANI )