Ground-breaking ceremony for the first manufacturing unit to be set up in Gopalpur Industrial Park Special Economic Zone (SEZ) project of Tata Steel in Ganjam district of Odisha was held on Wednesday.
This unit, to produce aerial target products for defence purposes, is being set up by Mumbai-based Sure Safety Solutions Pvt. Ltd. in collaboration with M/s Megitt Defence Systems Ltd. of United Kingdom. Initially an assembling unit, it would cost Rs.60 crore and set up over an area of five acres under the ‘Make in India’ scheme. The project will begin with an assembly line for aerial targets, followed with servicing of Meggitt’s more than $50 million order procured from Indian Ministry of Defence for aerial targets.
Meggitt’s customer support manager Chris Hilder hoped that production from their Gopalpur Industrial Park Unit was expected to start from August 2016. He added that there were chances that this unit may be upgraded from assembling to a full-fledged production unit in future.
The ceremony today was attended by Industries and School & Mass Education Minister Debi Prasad Mishra, Science and Technology Minister Pradeep Panigrahy, Army Air Defence College, Gopalpur, commandant Lt.-Gen. A. K. Saigal and Arun Mishra, the vice-president, Project Gopalpur & MD, Tata Steel Special Economic Zone Ltd.
Speaking to newsmen, Mr. Debi Mishra hoped that this unit would usher a new beginning for industrial growth in Odisha as this SEZ is first of its kind in Odisha. He added that the Odisha government would come up with details of its SEZ policy by December which would ease process for establishment of Gopalpur Industrial Park of Tata Steel. Mr Arun Mishra said Tata Steel had started discussions with investors in China and other South-East Asian countries, who have shown interest in the SEZ project.
The Industrial Development Corporation (IDCO) of Odisha in the past had acquired 2,970 acres of land near Gopalpur port in Ganjam district for a mega plant of Tata Steel. Later steel plant project had been shelved and the company had decided to have a SEZ on the land. Registration process of lease deed of land earmarked for this SEZ near Gopalpur port has started and 1,235 acres of land earmarked for the project would be registered in the company’s name in the first phase, said Mr Debi Mishra. Rest of the land with IDCO would be registered in the name of Tata Steel in a phased manner. Meanwhile, a 55,000 tons per annum ferrochrome plant of Tata Steel that would be the anchorage industry of this proposed SEZ is nearing completion. This Rs.800-crore plant is expected to start its test production in January 2016 and its commercial production would start in April 2016, said Mr Arun Mishra.
