Announcing his party’s support to the GST Bill, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday said he is optimistic about implementation of the Posco project as well as an investment of Rs.1.73 lakh crore during the next three years in the State.
“My party (BJD) supports the GST Bill as it is good for the State and also for the country,” Mr. Patnaik said while speaking at a round-table discussion on “The ease of doing business in Odisha”.
BJD has 20 members in Lok Sabha and seven MPs in Rajya Sabha.
Replying to a question on Posco, which has reportedly put its Odisha project on hold, Mr. Patnaik said: “Posco has proposed to be the largest FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in the country. I am hopeful of its coming up here.”
Mr. Patnaik said the State government has taken up the matter related to the Posco project with the Prime Minister and has been trying to convene a meeting at the Central Government-level to sort out the issues.
With the Posco’s Rs.52,000-crore project going uncertain mostly due to lack of mining linkages to the South Korean steel major, Mr. Patnaik on October 22 had met Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and requested him to convene a tripartite meeting with Posco officials to take a final call on the project. On Odisha’s plan for investment, Mr. Patnaik said: “Our Vision-2019 for industrial development is to achieve 60 per cent growth with year-on-year growth of 15 per cent. We have envisaged Rs.1.73 lakh crore of new investment creating 3.50 lakh new jobs. To achieve this goal, the State government has taken a number of new initiatives.” - PTI
