Mega steel plant to bring new wave of economic development, create jobs in Odisha: Dharmendra Pradhan

Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday said the Rs 50,000 crore integrated steel plant in Odisha will bring a new wave of economic development and employment generation in the state and will give boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat. Pradhan also congratulated ArcelorMittal-Nippon Steel India and the Odisha government for signing a pact on Thursday for setting up the 12 million tonnes integrated steel plant in Kendrapada district of the state.

"This mega steel plant in Kendrapada will bring a new wave of economic development and employment generation in Odisha...," the steel minister was quoted as saying in a statement.

Mittal had met Pradhan on March 2 and discussed growth of the steel industry in the country, particularly in eastern India.

Pradhan had earlier launched Mission Purvodaya with an aim to make eastern India an integrated steel hub through setting up a steel cluster and greenfield capacity addition.

The mission is in line with Prime Minister's vision of driving growth of eastern India, and will contribute to achieving National Steel Policy's envisioned capacity of 300 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) by 2030. The Centre is committed to providing all kinds of facilities for setting up of this mega steel plant. The steel plant is a culmination of the efforts of the central government towards bringing in investors for wealth creation and employment generation through supportive policy reforms such as the National Steel Policy as well as facilitative infrastructure.

This ArcelorMittal-Nippon mega steel plant in Kendrapada will benefit from massive infrastructure developments in the region over the past six years such as expansion of Paradip port and setting up of Mahanadi riverine port, key freight and passenger rail corridors such as the Paradip-Haridaspur new line, fast-track construction of highways etc.

Pradhan expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for according highest priority to the holistic and business-friendly development initiative in Odisha.