JSW to invest ₹65,000 cr in Odisha for projects including steel plant

JSW Steel, India’s largest steelmaker by capacity and a part of the $23 billion-JSW Group, has announced an investment of ₹65,000 crore for Odisha, and will utilise the investment to set up an integrated steel plant, a port facility, and a cement factory, at Jagatsinghpur in the eastern state.

While the port will handle 52 million tonnes of cargo per annum, the cement factory will be able to produce 10 million tonnes, and an iron ore slurry transportation system will have the capacity to transport 30 million tonnes per annum, the Economic Times reported.

The steel plant

According to a JSW Steel statement, 2958 acres of land has been handed over to it for the project by the Industrial Development Corporation of Odisha (IDCO).

“30% of the total project land will be dedicated for the preservation of forests and water bodies. The investment will be made in multiple phases subject to necessary approvals,” the statement read.

Meanwhile, JSW Group chairman Sajjan Jindal, who on Friday attended a foundation-laying ceremony presided over by Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, said that the integrated steel plant is expected to drive economic growth in the region with a potential to generate about 30,000 direct and indirect jobs.

“Steel plays the most important role in building any great nation. A steel plant changes the lives of future generations and positively affects the economy in many ways,” said Jindal.

As per ET, the land for the project was earlier earmarked for South Korean steelmaker POSCO, in 2005, with plans to set up a 12 MTPA (millions of tonnes per annum) facility with an investment of ₹52,000 crore. POSCO, however, withdrew in 2017 following stiff opposition from the locals towards the project.