The state government on Wednesday found itself in a tight spot over the inordinate delay in implementation of the proposed titanium project in Ganjam district as the Opposition MLAs created a ruckus in the assembly, demanding information on action taken by the government to implement the project.
"There has been inordinate delay in the titanium project which was proposed to be set up at Chhatrapur in Ganjam district even though 200 acres of government land and 50 acres of private land have already been acquired for the project. This has left the land losers disappointed and they have started demanding return of land,” said CPI MLA Adikanta Sethi.
Questioning the seriousness of the government in implementing the project, senior BJP MLA K V Singh Deo said, “It remains to be seen whether the state government has tried to enforce the validity of the MoU signed with the project promoters.”
Raghunath Mohanty, the state minister for industries, steel & mines and parliamentary affairs said, “Its true that the titanium project is facing delay but we are trying our level best to solve the problems pertaining to the project. It will definitely be implemented but no decision can be taken now as the matter is under the consideration of the arbitrator's tribunal.”
The minister informed that Saraf Agencies which had invested Rs 200 crore on the project had pulled out of the joint venture formed with the Russian promoters.
With the project failing to make any headway at the ground level even after the pull out of the Kolkata-based Saraf Agencies, the Orissa government had asked the Russian promoters to clear all outstanding dues of their erstwhile joint venture partner and start work on the project as soon as possible.
The titanium dioxide plant was to be originally developed as a joint venture between the Russian promoters and Saraf Agencies. Both parties had formed a special purpose vehicle called Titanium Projects Private Ltd (TPPL) for executing the project.
But work on it had hit a roadblock due to sharp differences between the consortium partners over the controversial allotment of land by the state government owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa Ltd (Idco).
Idco had allotted land to Saraf Agencies at Chhatrapur which was strongly opposed by the Russian promoters, who demanded allotment of land in the name of TPPL.
Even after several rounds of negotiations, the two sparring partners failed to cut any ice, with the dispute finally culminating in the exit of Saraf Agencies from the project.
As per the original scheme of things, the Russian partners- State Property Management Agency and Tekhnokhim Holding had 51 per cent and 4 per cent stake in the JV. The balance 45 per cent stake was held by the Saraf Agencies.
