Brahmi Priya Samantray,\r\n

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Government wants the multi-crore Posco project to come up at the earliest. But opposition from some sections led to confusion and country’s largest FDI is yet to materialise,” Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan said after inaugurating the golden jubilee ceremony of Utkal Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UCCI) here on Sunday. He also said consensus is key for materialisation of the Rs.52,000 crore Posco steel project in Jagatsinghpur dis­trict. The 12-million tonne steel project has been delayed due to absence of a common ground among stakeholders.

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He hinted that Odisha has a good chance of bagging one of the five ultra mega power projects announced in the Budget. “Odisha has an abun­dance of critical minerals apart from logistic and infra­structural advantage which renders the State an edge,” Shri Pradhan said.

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Speaking on the occasion, CMD of IDCO Vishal Dev said that, the Industrial Policy Resolu­tion (IPR) will be announced in the first week of May. The Government is keen on stabi­lising the operations of mega industrial setups and promot­ing value addition through ancillary and downstream industrial units.

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“The SEZ policy has already been submitted before the State Government for ap­proval.  Besides, single win­dow clearances have been mooted to speed up industrialization,” Shri Dev said.

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Development Commis­sioner UN Behera stated that skill development of technical graduates was important to make them employable in an aesthetic industrial environ­ment. Behera raised concerns over low credit absorption ratio among the MSMEs in Odisha.

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Vice-President (Opera­tions) of Tata Steel Rajiv Ku­mar invited stakeholders of UCCI to participate in build­ing an eco-system around the Kalinga Nagar project in Ja­jpur district. The company plans to build a number of satellite towns around the plant in the coming years.

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On the occasion, UCCI felicitated Chairman and Managing Director of NALCO Ansuman Das with “Udyog Sathi” award.

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Ramesh Chandra Mohapatra, President UCCI gave welcome speech on the inaugural ceremony. Debabrata Das, Secretary, UCCI gave vote of thanks. UCCI Special journal was also released on the occasion.