 "Mistry's visit boost Gopalpur project")
The board of Tata Steel SEZ, under whose banner the project will come up, is now under the process of constitution and it will be completed by the end of this month, said a senior company official.
While the board will be chaired by T V Narendran, the MD of Tata Steel, Arun Mishra, currently vice president, Gopalpur project, will be the MD of the SEZ company, which will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Steel.
Also Read
The other members of the board will be nominated soon, the official said.
The activities at Gopalpur has particularly got a boost following the visit of Tata group chairman Cyrus Mistry to the area earlier this week.
“Gopalpur project is now one of the top priorities of the Tata group, so much so that Mistry has promised to visit this site every three months to review the progress of the project,” confided a senior Tata group official.
Singapore-based consultancy firm, Jurong is currently preparing a master plan to develop the 3,000 acre land in possession of the company at Gopalpur as a multi-product hub.
“Jurong will submit the final plan in November. After that we will go for roadshows in various destinations abroad to attract investors to the Park,” the official added.
The company is mainly eyeing the South Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and even Japan to woo the investors because of the geographical proximity of these nations to the eastern coast of India, where the SEZ is located.
As the promoter of the project, Tata Steel SEZ will provide developed land with infrastructure support like electricity, drainage, sewerage and water supply facilities to the investors intending to set up their units in the Park.
Besides, the company intends to take up a dedicated berth in the Gopalpur port to cater to the import-export needs of the units to be established in the Park. For this, the company is weighing the option of equity investment in the port project, said a source. Tata group chairman, during his visit to Gopalpur, has also offered his company’s assistance to develop the nearby Rangeilunda airstrip into a full-fledged airport under public private partnership (PPP) mode if such an opportunity comes up in future.
“As this will be a multi-product hub, we intend to invite investors in sectors like IT, chemicals, electronics, textile and jems and jewellery during our roadshows,” said Arun Mishra, vice president, Gopalpur project.
It may be noted, the state-owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) had acquired about 3,000 acres of land near Gopalpur for establishment of a 10 million tonne steel plant by Tata Steel in mid-1990s. The land is lying vacant, since, as the company shelved its steel project.
However, later the steel major had announced its intention to set up industrial park and SEZ on the land and got in-principle approvals for the same from the designated authorities.
As an anchor tenant of the project, the company is currently in the process of setting up a 55,000 tonne per annum (tpa) ferrochrome plant there at an estimated cost of Rs 800 crore.
It has recently filed documents seeking environment clearance for another ferrochrome plant with 250,000 tonne capacity at the site.