By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, February 19, 2019: Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday performed inauguration and ground breaking of 18 new industrial projects with a total investment pegged at Rs 2196.30 crore and creating job opportunities for 3,465 people.

Patnaik inaugurated four units including a 1.5 million ton per annum (mtpa) cement grinding unit and a 15 Mw captive power plant of Emami Cement entailing an investment of Rs 410 crore at Jajpur, a pasta manufacturing unit of Jay Bharat Spices (Rs 45 crore) and Rs 40 crore pellet plant of Brahmani River Pellets Limited, among others.

The chief minister performed groundbreaking for the rest that included expansion of non-alcoholic beverage plant of Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd in Khurda at a cost of Rs 500 crore, a four million tonne per annum iron ore pellletisation plant of Narbheram Power and Steel Private Ltd with an investment Rs 625 crore.

Patnaik also laid foundation for a solar project and coal gasification project in the state today. Two aluminium downstream units also had their ground breaking done at the Angul Aluminium Park, a joint venture between state-owned Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) and aluminium major Nalco.

“We witnessed ground breaking of 14 new projects and inauguration of another of industrial projects today. I am happy to note that GO-SWIFT, the online single window portal has received 600 industrial project applications in just over 14 months, which translates to almost two new proposals for industrial projects every working day during this period in the State. This is an incredible achievement for the state”, the chief minister said after the ceremony.

“Odisha’s vision is to become the Manufacturing Hub of the East. Through Vision 2025 for industrial development, we had devised an action plan to bring more manufacturing investments across the state to provide higher employment opportunities to our people. My government is working towards ensuring that the investment intents get converted into actual investments”, Patnaik added.

Incidentally, the State Level Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA) on Tuesday cleared eight proposals with total investment pegged at Rs 1197.41 crores. The projects proposed across various sectors promised employment opportunities for 5,162 people.

The projects are of Aditya Birla Fashion Retail Ltd to set up an apparel manufacturing unit at a cost of Rs 114 crore, Bengaluru-based mattress major Kurlon’s proposal to set up a manufacturing unit, home grown hospitality major Swosti Group’ s proposal to set up a new resort at Gopalpur.

Among others, Hyderabad-based edible oil major Gemini Edibles and Fats India (makers of FREEDOM brand oil) plan to set up a refined vegetable oil manufacturing unit at Tata Steel Industrial Park in Gopalpur was approved by SLSWCA. The project will employ 525 people and will see an investment of Rs 300 crore.