Angul, May 27: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today dedicated Jindal Steel and Power Limited's integrated plant with a capacity of six million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to the nation.

Inaugurating the Rs 33,000-crore worth project, Naveen said the plant would provide direct jobs to around 30,000 people and indirect employment to many others. The chief minister said: "The state government is committed to provide all support and facilitation to the steel industry. Since 2005, we have added more than 10MTPA steel-making capacity in the state."

Naveen made a short visit to the township, which the Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) had developed for the plant. Spelling out the government's vision to develop Angul as an economically vibrant, high-end engineering and manufacturing hub with world-class living and working environment, Naveen said: "India looks to reach a steel-manufacturing capacity of 300 million tonnes by 2030. I am proud to note that more than 20 per cent of the country's steel shall continue to be produced from Odisha."

Naveen said his government was committed to create 30 lakh additional employment opportunities by 2025, and urged the JSPL to encourage local entrepreneurship by assisting at least 50 small and medium downstream units in the next one year.

Chairperson emeritus of the OP Jindal Group Savitri Jindal, the state's steel and mines minister Prafulla Mallick and Sambalpur MP Nagendra Pradhan attended the function among others.

JSPL chairman Naveen Jindal said: "It was the dream of my father, OP Jindal, and Biju Patnaik to set up a steel plant in Angul. In 1990, when Biju Patnaik was the chief minister, they had dreamt of setting up a one-million-tonne capacity plant. Now, it has come true in a big way with a six-million-tonne plant being set up in Angul."

He said: "The blast furnace with a towering height of 104 metres is equipped to produce 12,000 tonnes of hot metal every day. The coal gasification plant is producing the direct reduced iron by converting high ash swadeshi coal to synthetic gas for steel making."

It is the country's largest blast furnace, which will make Odisha the fourth largest steel maker in the country.

Jindal said: "We have more than 25,000 work force, out of which 80 per cent are from the state itself. The remaining 20 per cent are from various parts of India and from other countries, including Canada, China and Australia."

Stating that fortune favours the brave, he said: "The company's financial health is improving. From July, we are expecting a positive result. In a few years, we will be debt-free."

JSPL managing director and CEO Ravi Uppal said: "The JSPL will continue to do its best to join the government's efforts in harnessing industry-led socio-economic development."