Bhubaneswar: The state government is going to attach top priority to swift implementation of industrial projects.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik stressed on this during review of the activities of the industries department on Wednesday.

On Thursday, industries minister Ananta Das said: "The chief minister reviewed the progress of implementation of investment intents received during the Make in Odisha Conclave held in November-December, 2016. He emphasised that all the departments concerned must provide top priority to ensure early and successful implementation of the projects. Any pertinent issues must be resolved by the inter-ministerial committee."

The department had earlier claimed that it had received investment intents worth more than Rs 2 lakh crore during the conclave.

Das said that during Wednesday's review, the department had presented updates on the development of various infrastructure projects.

"It was discussed that there was a significant interest shown by the industry in setting up port-based projects. The chief minister emphasised that the state government would extend all necessary support for these projects through provision of state-of-the-art infrastructure facilities and handholding quick implementation," he said.

The state government has identified 14 potential locations along the state's 480km coastline for setting up ports and it has signed MoUs with a few private developers.

The department also highlighted that the state has made "significant strides in implementing the Ease of Doing Business Reforms" to make it easy for companies to set up industries and operate in the state.

The compliance percentage has gone up from 52.12 per cent in 2015 and 92.73 per cent in 2015 to 97.83 per cent in 2017, it claimed.

Quoting a study by Assocham in 2017, the department said Odisha was the No. 1 state in the country in terms of investment implementation rate. "The state has seen a significant rise attracting manufacturing projects with more than 118 large projects approved in the past four years alone in the state. The average time taken for approval for the approval of the projects has also reduced to 20 days from the date of receipt of completed project application," said Das.