Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das Wednesday said the ground-breaking ceremony of the Vedanta Group's one million tone capacity steel plant would likely to be performed next month.
The Rs 22,000 crore plant would be built at Manoharpur in mineral-rich West Singhbhum district, Das said.
Addressing the Vendor Development Programme for Defense and Railways here, the chief minister said the plant would generate employment opportunities and pave way for setting up an industrial area on the pattern of Adityapur and Bokaro in Manoharpur-Chaibasa region of the district.
He performed the ground-breaking ceremony of 90 new industrial units valued at Rs 1200 crore during the program, which was a continuation of the state's investment summit 'Momentum Jharkhand' last year.
The chief minister emphasized the need for development of MSME sector and improve their quality to face competition and get recognised in the world market.
He said the Adityapur Industrial Area had 60,000 workforce when he came to power in 2014 but it has gone up to over one lakh now.
Das appealed the Union Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain, who was present, to set up a rail wagon factory in the state's backward region of Santal Paragana and Palamau.
Describing the two-day Vendor Development Programme as "serious and inspirational", Gohain said the railways need huge spare parts and import it.
He said Jharkhand has abundance of mineral resources but it was not exploited to its optimum, leaving enough opportunities for development.
The two-day meet was aimed to explore opportunities in Defense and Railway sectors for the local industries here.
Representatives from railways and defense sectors including the DRDO participated in the event organized by the state Department of Industries, in association with Adityapur Small Industries Association, Adityapur Auto Cluster.
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