Naveen launches slew of projects

Bhubaneswar: Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday launched 19 industrial projects in the state through videoconferencing. Of these, seven manufacturing units were inaugurated, while groundbreaking ceremonies were organised for 12 others.

The cumulative investment for these projects stands at Rs 2,675 crore and includes diverse sectors such as textiles and apparel, chemicals, fertilisers, cement, and food-processing, among others.

"Odisha has a vision to become the most preferred destination in the country. Towards that end, we have devised the Odisha Industrial Development Plan Vision 2025 to set up more manufacturing industries in focus sectors with an investment of Rs 2.5 lakh crore," Naveen said while addressing senior state government officers and representatives of industries.

The state government has brought in significant business reforms to assist the industries set up and operate in a conducive and investor-friendly environment to successfully implement its vision.

"I am happy to note that the industries department has leveraged the 3Ts framework of transparency, teamwork and technology to develop the GO-Swift portal, which is the first of its kind in the country, providing facilitation to industries across the investment life cycle," said Naveen.

The GO-Swift portal has been a huge success and it recently received the 200th application in a record time of less than six months, he said, hoping that this portal would help redefine government to business (G2B) interface and set a new benchmark in India.

The state government had organised the Make in Odisha conclave in November-December, 2016, in Bhubaneswar to attract investments. It had claimed at that time to have received investment intents to the tune of Rs 2.03 lakh crore during the event.

The first groundbreaking ceremony following that conclave was held last November for 15 manufacturing units that grounded investments worth Rs 1,19,690 crore.

The government will now hold its second edition here from November 11 to 15. The chief minister unveiled the logo of the event on Monday.