Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Monday approved five investment proposals worth Rs 2.04 lakh crore.



These proposals will create employment opportunities for 27,645 people, an official said here.



The investment proposals were approved at the 20th High-Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.





This is the highest ever investment approved by the HLCA so far, said Industries Secretary Sanjeev Chopra.



All the proposals approved in the meeting belong to the focus sectors identified by the state government -- chemicals, petrochemicals and metal downstream.



In the petrochemical sector, the HLCA gave its nod to two giant proposals for setting up projects in Odisha.



The first one by Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) is to set up a hydrocarbon processing complex comprising a light crude oil refinery, an aromatics as well as ethylene cracker complexes near the proposed Subarnarekha port in Balasore district.



The project would be set up with an investment of Rs 78,225.00 crore which will provide job opportunities for around 10,000 people, Chopra said.



State-run Indian Oil Corporation's (IOC) proposal is for expanding its existing refinery unit from 15 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) capacity to 25 MTPA, and setting up a petrochemical complex comprising a dual-feed cracker, naphtha cracker and petcoke gasification plant at Paradip.



IOC will invest of Rs 1,00,300 crore, employing around 12,595 people. The project will ensure the availability of building block feedstock to ancillary and downstream units in the chemical and petrochemical sector.



Another the proposal by IOC to set up a 1.2 MTPA-capacity purified terephthalic acid (PX-PTA) complex with an investment of Rs 9,136 crore in its existing Paradip refinery, employing around 3,200 people, has also been approved in the HLCA meeting.



In the metal downstream sector, the HLCA approved the proposal of Jindal (India) Ltd to set up a cold rolling complex of 0.50 MTPA and steel processing plant at Kalinga Nagar Industrial Complex in Jajpur district.



The projects would be set up with a total investment of Rs 1,676 crore, providing employment to about 1,300 people.



A proposal by Talcher Fertilizer Ltd to set up a coal-based urea fertilizer complex of 1.99 MTPA capacity at Talcher in Angul district with an investment of Rs 14,732 crore, employing around 550 people, was also approved.

