Odisha Channel Bureau
Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday invited the steel producers to set up their industries in Odisha with the best possible facilitation by the State government.
Inaugurating the 7th Asia Steel 2018 international conference jointly organised by the Indian Institute of Metals and Tata Steel here, Patnaik said his government has taken several initiatives over the years to facilitate establishment and operation of industries.
Congratulating the organising committee and global institutes who are playing a key role in developing steel industries, Patnaik said that Odisha is a mineral rich state with abundant resources of iron ore, coal, chrome and other minerals, and the State government has been providing support for development of mineral based Industries through adoption of appropriate policies.
“Today, Odisha is producing about half of the country’s iron ore. Because of indigenous availability of such high grade Iron ore, the critical input for steel making, Odisha has a competitive advantage for production of Steel,” he said.
The Chief Minister said that from the installed capacity of about 4 million tons per annum of crude steel in the year 1999-2000, the State of Odisha now has 47 steel industries with the total capacity of over 33 million tons per annum which is about one fourth of the country’s total installed capacity. The pellet plants in the State have an installed capacity of about 29 million tons per annum.
Stating that the National Steel Policy-2017 envisages the increase in per capita steel consumption from the present level of 61 kg to 158 kg by 2030, Patnaik said that Odisha is aiming to contribute substantially to this national target. Both the steel manufacturers and the government have to work in tandem to achieve this objective.
“My Government has taken several initiatives over the years to facilitate setting up and operation of the industries. We have introduced the policy of long term linkage of iron ore, chrome ore and other minerals to the state based Industries through Odisha Mining Corporation Limited.
“Odisha was the first State in the country to auction iron-ore block under the amended MMDR Act. Three iron-ore blocks have already been auctioned and four more blocks are being readied for auction in the coming months. I invite the steel makers to participate in the auction for ensuring their raw material security,” said Patnaik.
Stating that Information Technology Enabled Services have been adopted by Odisha in a big way, Patnaik said that Odisha became the first State in the country to integrate industrial approvals with the e-BIZ platform. The State’s Central Inspection Framework for Industries has been recognised as one of the best practices by the Government of India and the World Bank.
“The Central Government has appreciated the ‘Integrated Mines and Minerals Management System’ called i3MS that enables IT-enabled monitoring of the mining sector and has advised other States to introduce similar systems. The State has also recently implemented a GPS based Vehicle Tracking System for online and real-time monitoring of mineral carrying vehicles, which has been conferred with the Geospatial World Excellence Award this year,” he said.
He informed that a National Investment and Manufacturing Zone is being developed at Kalinganagar. Spread over 160 square kilometers, the Zone is envisaged to become a self-contained ecosystem along with residential, commercial and social amenities, and it will enable the potential investors to set up value added downstream industries, he added.
Among others who were present at the inaugural session include Union Steel Secretary Aruna Sharma, Asia Steel International Conference Chairman Anand Sen, and President of Indian Institute of Metals Biswajit Basu.
The day-long international conference was co-organised by the Chinese Society for Metals, the Korean Institute of Metals and Materials, and the Iron and Steel Institute of Japan.
