Kalinganagar NMIZ remains non-starter

Jajpur: It has already been over three years since the Centre granted special status to Kalinganagar Industrial Complex as National Manufacturing Investment Zone (NMIZ) in 2019 but the project has been a non-starter. The Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry granted special status to Kalinganagar on the recommendation of the state government. It is one of the 17 identified NMIZs of the country spread over a whopping 165.

25 sq km area. The Centre had granted the status tag with the hope that it will be a mega industrial zone having a world-class township to cater to the needs of the investors. IDCO, the nodal agency of the state government, had also prepared a detailed project report in this regard that covered railway, road, water and air infrastructure development including sewerage and effluent treatment and solid waste management.

Meanwhile, three years have passed since the announcement but the project is yet to be implemented. As a result, the execution of the proposed activities under the project is yet to be commenced. The matter came to the fore after PL Kandoi, president of Kalinganagar Industries Association, an outfit of industrial firms, wrote a letter to the Chief Secretary seeking his intervention.

While the state government is inviting industrial firms to invest in the state through ‘Make in Odisha’ conclave, the firms in Kalinganagar Industrial Complex, which has received the status of NMIZ, are passing through hard times, it was alleged. The IDCO has assigned the task of preparing world class infrastructure to WAPCOS that covered railway, road, water and air infrastructure development, solid waste management, drainage facility for discharge of effluent and its treatment for reuse. Even funds worth Rs 10,000 crore were sanctioned for the project.

The letter mentions that over the last two decades many industries like Tata, JSL, JSW, TSML, VISA, Maithan, BRPL, Sagar Cement, Yazdani, Nu Vista and KJ Ispat have established their units in Kalinganagar. However, these firms are unfortunately facing lots of problems in their management and expansion due to lack of proper infrastructure in the industrial complex. Notably, the region gets as much as 550 mm of rainfall annually.

The topography of Kalinganagar is hilly and uneven, due to which rainwater flows down from the hilltop to the industries situated at a lower altitude and further to inland areas as a natural phenomenon. The Tata plant is situated at an elevation of 57 metre, Jindal at 49 metre, TSML (Rohit) 55 metre, KJ Ispat at 47 metre and VISA Steel at 35 metre above sea level. As a result, the rainwater flows down the hilltop and passes through Kacherigaon, Arasahi and Ganda nullah.

The plants have come up with the necessary equipment for pollution control. However, the downward flow of rainwater is so intense that there is dire need to construct drains for effective discharge of the rainwater. When contacted, Kalinganagar ADM Santosh Kumar Mishra said that the administration is taking steps to implement the NMIZ project.

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