Other States - Orissa   

Infrastructure to be put on fast track

BHUBANESWAR: With competitions for bagging Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) that envisaged more than Rs. 2,50,000-crore investment getting intensified among coastal states, the Orissa Government has decided to put infrastructure development on fast track.

Several department secretaries here on Monday came to the agreement for putting requisite infrastructure in place for PCPIR after going through a presentation made by Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited (ILFS) which was entrusted the responsibility to prepare feasibility study for the project on behalf of the State Government.

In the first place, the State Government proposed to create Greater Paradip Development Authority (GPDA) encompassing all semi-urban areas, block and panchayats headquarters around the port town of Paradip. Plans are in the pipeline to develop villages into modern global villages to achieve zero-displacement.

“If Paradip was selected for PCPIR, we would immediately go for an investment of Rs. 4500 crore to create a base infrastructure including roads and airport connecting Biju Patnaik Airport at Bhubaneswar,” a top official of Industry department told mediapersons here.

While a State highway was being converted to a six-lane road, Special Purpose Vehicle for Paradip-Haridaspur new broad gauge rail link had already been signed, he said. The investment region which was slated to come up over 285 square kilometer area would help create direct and indirect employments to the tune of 4 lakh.

Earlier ILFS team said their January 24-presentation before the Central Government received a favourable response.

“With a lot of inherent advantages, Orissa is now being considered one of the favourite destinations of PCPIR. Orissa was never in the scene two months ago. We have been able to move to high power committee level now,” Anil B. Goyal, Vice-President of ILFS, said.

Five states such as Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat and Orissa have been vying for the ambitious project while Tamil Nadu was said to be the latest entrant in the list of interested states.

An expert team from Centre is likely to arrive in Orissa during the third week of February to assess the situation and visit Paradip for its selection.

Major components of PCPIR are core sector including petroleum and petrochemical units, housing and allied sector and external infrastructure including road, logistic, cargo complex and airport.

While Rs. 23100 crores has been proposed for housing sector, Rs 15,275 crore has been earmarked for external infrastructure and the core sector would drive an investment to the tune of Rs. 2,30,000 crore.

Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOC) proposed refinery complex to be developed at an investment of Rs. 26,000 crore would be treated as mother petrochemical segment for PCPIR.

The ILFS team said long coastline, a number of proposed ports and connecting state highways had put the State in advantageous position.

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