Reported by Chinmaya Dehury / Edited by Manoj Mishra

Bhubaneswar, Aug 2

The project monitoring group of the Union cabinet secretariat is in Bhubaneswar to review the status of 22 big projects in the coal, mining, steel, petrochemicals, railways and power sectors in Odisha at the State Secretariat

The group is looking into the issues and problems faced by  a number of upcoming projects as also the reasons that led steel major ArcelorMittal to pull out of its Keonjhar project.

download

A 10-member team, led by Anil Swaroop, additional secretary, will discuss the issues with the chief secretary and senior officials.

"The cabinet secretariat's project monitoring group that has identified 22 projects of six sectors will discuss about the problems and fast tracking the projects for the development of the state as well as country”, a senior official of state planning and coordination department said.

The team would review the progress of the proposed refinery project by Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL), steel projects of Jindal Steel & Power Ltd and Monnet Ispat & Energy, alumina refinery project of Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) and aluminium smelter project of Aditya Aluminium Ltd among others.

The meeting will also review the progress of Paradip-Haridaspur, Talcher-Bimalagarh and Angul-Sukinda rail link projects.

All the aforesaid projects are facing several roadblocks including public resistance and law and order problem.

While IOCL's 15 million tonne refinery at Paradip, taken up at an investment of Rs 29,777 crore is facing problems relating to law and order, another IOCL project– Paradip-Haldia-Durgapur LPG pipeline– has been delayed due to issues relating to forest clearance.

Besides, the Rs 1793 crore Paradip-Raipur-Ranchi pipeline project of the IOCL has also been stranded midway due to law and order problem and delay in obtaining Stage-II forest clearance.

Similar is the case with the JSPL’s 6 mtpa steel plant and 900 MW captive power plant (CPP) projects near Angul which is facing stiff local resistance to its water pipeline project.

This apart, Aditya Aluminium Ltd is yet to obtain forest clearance for its coal block Talabira-II and III linked to its aluminium smelter project as the issue is still pending with the state government.