Bhubaneswar: BJP leader and Union Petroleum and Natural Gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan has urged the Centre to take up an industrial corridor project in Odisha.
In a letter to Nirmala Sitharaman, Union minister of state (Independent) for Commerce and Industry, today, Pradhan said the Industrial Corridor in Odisha should be taken up simultaneously along with the Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC) which is envisaged to be developed in the first phase of the East Coast Economic Corridor linking Kolkata, Chennai and Tuticorin.
Notably, the Centre has conceived the development of various Industrial Corridor projects for promotion of manufacturing and industrial development in the country, some of which are under implementation while others are still in initial stage of planning,
“Given the rich mineral resources and huge availability of manpower in Odisha, such an Industrial Corridor project in the state is highly necessary to create state-of-the-art infrastructure in the state to help realize its economic potential,” Pradhan observed.
He also said Odisha has a well developed network of National Highways. Besides, in the Railway Budget of 2016-2017, two dedicated freight corridors have been announced which would be passing through Odisha. “The planning of the Industrial Corridor can be synchronized with the existing and upcoming infrastructure projects,” he pointed out.