By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, April 3, 2023: Odisha Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday left for Tokyo via Singapore on a week-long Japan tour to attract foreign investment to Odisha.

Incidentally, this is his third foreign tour in more than 23 years as the chief minister of the state.

Naveen is scheduled to meet Nippon Steel’s representative director and President Eiji Hashimoto on Tuesday. The meeting assumes significance because AMNS India, a joint venture of Arcellor Mittal and Nippon Steel, has signed two MoUs with Odisha to establish two steel mills with a combined investment of Rs 93,000 crore. The state has been pushing for early commissioning of these projects which may generate direct jobs for 28,000 people.

The AMNS India has signed a pact with the state in 2021 to establish a 12 MTPA integrated steel plant in Kendrapada district at an estimated Rs 50,000 crore, which it plans to expand to 24 MTPA by investing another Rs 50,000 crore at a later stage. The government has identified 8000-acre land for the project. A feasibility study is under way.

The company has signed another deal for a seven MTPA steel plant at Paradip during Make in Odisha conclave in December last year with an investment of 40,000 crore. The CM led High-Level Clearance Authority has approved the project.

Apart from discussing the projects in pipeline, Odisha government is scheduled to sign another MoU with AMNS during the ongoing visit of Naveen to Japan for setting up of a high-performance gymnastics centre in the Kalinga Stadium. The AMNS India currently has a 12 MTPA pellet plant in Paradip, which is country’s largest single location pellet complex, a nine MTPA beneficiation facility in Keonjhar and a 250-km slurry pipeline from Keonjhar to Paradip.

On Wednesday, Naveen will address the Odisha Business Meet 2023 at Tokyo where potential investors across sectors such as tourism, steel, aluminium, textiles, food and sea-food processing, and green hydrogen and green ammonia sectors, among others are expected to attend. After the business meet, Naveen will interact with Odia diaspora settled in Japan over dinner and promote Odisha-Japan cultural ties.

Naveen on Thursday will visit Kimitsu Steel Works of Nippon Steel Corporation, a steel plant complex extensively using high-end technology. The Naveen-led Odisha delegation will also get involved in many other business and cultural meets before the CM takes a return flight via Bangkok on March 11.