Orissa signs MoUs worth Rs215,000 crore for steel, aluminium projects

21 December 2006

Mumbai: Orissa has signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) worth Rs215,000 crore with several companies even as the state targets a 10 per cent growth in investments in the 1 th plan at Rs175,000 crore, the state's minister for steel and mines, Padmanabha Behera, said at the Sustainability Summit organised by the CII.

"The state government has signed 40 MoUs with steel companies for setting up capacity of 58.91 million tones, involving an investment of Rs164,265 crore," he said.

"About Rs50,000 crore is going to be invested in alumina and aluminium sector by Vedanta Industries, Aditya Birla group, Utkal Alumina, L&T and Dubal," he said.
Leading investors in the steel and mining sector include world's number 1 Arcelor-Mittal , South Korea's Posco and leading national players like the Tatas, Jindals, Bhusan, Essar and Sterlite, the minister said.

Grasim Industries and Orissa Cements Ltd (OCL) are also investing in the production of cement in Orissa by utilising fly-ash of steel plants and power plants, he said.

Besides, the state expects more than Rs1,00,000 crore investment in the power sector, Behera added.

The sate government, he said, has targeted a growth rate of 10 per cent per annum during the 11th five-year plan with an investment of Rs175,000 crore from public and private sector.

Public-private partnership agreements with several leading mining MNCs has placed the state first among all Indian states in terms of investment projects in the last couple of years, Behera said.

"We hope the state will reach its target to be a zero revenue deficit state in 2010," he added.