CM appeals to biz barons to work together

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Bhubaneswar: Inaugurating the plenary session of MIO Conclave 2018, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Monday urged industry barons to come and join hands with state government to make Odisha a manufacturing hub of South Asia.
“We look forward to interact with you all and deliberate upon the vast opportunities that Odisha offers and how we can work together towards developing Odisha as a Manufacturing Hub of South Asia,” Naveen said.
He appealed to the industry captains present at the session to plan a strategy for investment over the next 10 years. “Dedicated teams will be appointed by my government to handhold the implementation of your long term plans. I assure you of unmatched facilitation support from my government,” the CM assured.
“Odisha is, today, the Aluminium capital of South Asia, accounting for well over half of the country’s production, and is also the steel hub of India, contributing to about a quarter of the country’s steel production,” he stated.
“With a view to giving further impetus to certain key manufacturing sectors, we have laid down the Odisha Industrial Development Plan: Vision 2025 with a target of attracting investments of Rs 2.5 lakh crore and creation of 30 lakh job opportunities in six identified focus sectors by 2025,” he pointed out.
The state government has recently launched Aerospace and Defence Manufacturing Policy to capitalise on the competitive advantages of Odisha’s existing eco-system to attract investment in this high potential sector.
Speaking on future proposal on port-led development in state, the CM said, “We have been planning a chain of ports along the East Coast Economic Corridor. Apart from Paradip and Dhamra, we are developing deep water ports at Subarnarekha and Gopalpur, a riverine port on Mahanadi River and a chain of 12 other non-major ports.”
He also announced setting up of a world-class infrastructure –an 18-storeyed World Skill Centre in Bhubaneswar for which an MoU has been signed with ITEES- Singapore. Odisha Skill Development Authority will manage the Centre with technical support from ITEES.
This Centre will function as the centralised hub with all 71 government ITIs as spokes for implementation of the Odisha Skill Development Project – an investment of Rs 1,400 crore. More than 1.5 lakh trainers and trainees will be trained in the next 4 years, he pointed out.
Odisha has one of the most progressive Start-up policies, he said, adding, “We aim to be among top three start-up hubs in the country by supporting at least 1,000 start-ups by 2020.”
In the MSME Sector, since 2014-15, more than 2, 25,000 MSMEs have “gone into production” providing employment opportunities to more than 6.7 lakh persons.
The Chief Minister further said largest public-private-partnership programme of the country in the health sector is now being rolled out in the state, entailing an investment of Rs 1,300 crore across 25 locations.
He invited the captains of the global and Indian industry assembled at the event to become partners in this transformational journey.