State yet to decide on Kalinganagar or Bolangir to locate the complex
The Union ministry of commerce and industry has urged the Odisha government to identify suitable land with appropriate power, road and transport linkages for establishment of a National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ).
Though the state government has identified the Kalinga Nagar industrial cluster in Jajpur district and Bolangir in the economically backward KBK (Kalahandi, Bolangir and Koraput) region as probable locations for development of NIMZ, it is yet to zero in on any location for the zone.
In response to the Union minister's letter, the state industries department has asked Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Odisha (Idco) and Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha Ltd (Ipicol) to take appropriate action.
However, the state government has expressed its reservation over the land requirement for establishment of NIMZ and opined that acquisition of 5000 hectares of contiguous land for such projects is not a workable proposition.
NIMZs, one of the key instruments of the Centre's National Manufacturing Policy, have been envisaged as greenfield integrated industrial townships with state-of-the-art infrastructure and the minimum land need for such a complex is fixed at 5000 hectares (12355.26 acres).
"While these zones are an important instrumentality, forward looking provisions of the policy are applicable across the country wherever industry is able to organize itself into clusters and adopt a model of self-regulation. I am sure that you will recognize the intrinsic merit of this policy which holds enormous promise for industrial development and employment generation”, Union minister for commerce, industry & textiles Anand Sharma wrote to Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik.The NIMZs are proposed to be self-governing and autonomous bodies under Article 243 (Q-c) of the constitution and managed by a special purpose vehicle headed by government officials.The Centre will provide financial support for trunk infrastructure while internal infrastructure will be developed on a PPP (public private partnership) mode for which access to viability gap funding would be provided.
The first seven NIMZs have been notified and they will be set up in the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh along the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor. Together, these six states account for 43 per cent of the country's GDP (gross domestic product), 50 per of industrial production and exports and 40 per cent of total workforce.
The NIMZs would be a combination of production units, public utilities, logistics, environmental protection mechanism, residential areas and administrative services.
It would have a processing area where the manufacturing facilities along with associated logistics and other services as well as required infrastructure will be located.
The processing area may include one or more Special Economic Zones (SEZs), industrial parks and warehousing zones and export oriented units. Besides, there will be a non-processing area to include residential, commercial and other social and institutional infrastructure.
