Odisha to ensure grounding of investment plans: Naveen

Bhubaneswar: Overwhelmed over the total investment intent of over Rs 2 lakh crore received during the recently concluded ‘Make in Odisha’ Conclave, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today said the state government will take steps to ensure grounding of these investments.

"I am particularly pleased that the proposed investments have the potential to generate 1.4 lakh additional jobs for our people. The state government will do all it can to ensure grounding of these investments," Patnaik said while addressing a round table discussion.

The launching of nine new industrial infrastructure projects and industrial units over the past three weeks, including three projects of Aditya Birla Group, Shahi Exports and ITC, is a testimony of the state's focus on result-oriented, Patnaik said.

Stating that Odisha is fast emerging as a manufacturing hub of the east, Patnaik said to catapult the state to a high growth trajectory, the government has strategized Industrial Development Plan - Vision 2025.

The sectors are agro and food processing, chemicals and petro chemicals, textiles and apparel, downstream and ancillary industries; electronic system design and manufacturing and IT Enabled Services, Patnaik said.

"We have also put in place a number of sector specific policies to provide best-in-class incentives and create an industry friendly ecosystem to prospective investors," the chief minister said.

This apart, Patnaik said the state has taken several new initiatives over the last one year to reduce the physical interface in governance by leveraging technology in a big way.

"We became the first state in the country to integrate industrial approvals with the e-BiZ platform," he said adding that the state's Central Inspection Framework for industries has been recognized as one of the best practices by the Government of India and the World Bank.

Apart from investor friendly policies, Patnaik said the state has been focussing on creation of world class infrastructure facilities.

The state government has increased the outlay and expenditure on physical infrastructure more than three times over a period of four years creating irrigation facility, setting up road and rail connectivity, power generation, transmission and distribution, he said.

The state has been developing many investment regions in the form of National Investment & Manufacturing Zone at Kalinga Nagar, a Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region at Paradip and a Port Based Manufacturing Zone at Dhamra. A number of sector-specific industrial clusters are also coming up, he informed.

"The most important component of our investment promotion strategy, however, is to invest in people. We seek to create a niche in the Skill ecosystem of the country so that availability of 'Skilled-in Odisha' becomes a parameter of quality for investors," the chief minister said.

He said the state government is also accelerating public investment in social sector for providing education, affordable health care facility, skills, housing, drinking water, electricity and other basic needs.

The social sector investment will strengthen the capacity of the people to participate in the process of economic development for rapid transformation of the state, he said.