By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, February 6 2018: Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday invited the steel producers to set up their industries in the state assuring them with the best possible facilitation by the State.

Inaugurating the 7th Asia Steel Conference 2018 jointly organized by the Indian Institute of Metals and Tata Steel here, Patnaik said his 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”, Patnaik said adding that 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, Patnaik informed.

The CM invited the steel makers to participate in the auction for ensuring their raw material security by reiterating that the state government has been providing support for development of mineral based industries through adoption of appropriate policies.

Odisha is a mineral rich state with abundant resources of iron ore, coal, chrome and other minerals and the state is producing about half of the country’s iron ore. Incidentally, Odisha has a competitive advantage for production of steel because of indigenous availability of such high grade Iron ore, the critical input for steel making.

The state has 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, he said .

Patnaik also remarked that the state is aiming to contribute substantially to the national target of per capita steel consumption from the present level of 61 Kg to 158 Kg by 2030 and accordingly taken up several initiatives over the years to facilitate setting up and operation of the industries.

The state has launched ‘Integrated Mines and Minerals Management System’ called i3MS that enables IT-enabled monitoring of the mining sector which the centre 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.

A National Investment and Manufacturing Zone is being developed at Kalinganagar, spread over 160 square kilometers, Patnaik said adding that the Zone is envisaged to become a self-contained ecosystem along with residential, commercial and social amenities.

Among others, union steel secretary Dr. Aruna Sharma, Asia Steel International Conference chairman Anand Sen and president of Indian Institute of Metals Dr Biswajit Basu attended the event.