Purvodaya – Integrated Steel Hub
Purvodaya – Integrated Steel Hub
Steel is the base to build the infrastructure of any country. In India, 80% of the country’s Iron ore comes from the eastern states. These states are rich in mineral reserves such as dolomite, chromite, cooking coal, and bauxite. They also have the added advantage of holding major ports such as Paradip, Haldia, Vizag, Kolkata, etc. yet, somehow, eastern states have not fared as well as the other Indian states when it comes to their economy and infrastructure. To accelerate the growth of the eastern states, the Ministry of Steel has partnered with the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and Joint Parliamentary Committee (CPC) to launch Purvodaya, an integrated steel hub.
As per the National Steel Policy, the Government aims to produce 300 million tonne steel by the year 2030-2031. Out of these 300 million tonnes, it is expected that 200 million tonnes will be produced by these eastern states. It will be a major contributing factor to India’s five trillion economy vision.
The integrated steel hub majorly focuses on three points. They are:
- Capacity addition through easing the setup of greenfield steel plants
- Development of steel clusters near integrated steel plants as well as demand centers
- Transformation of logistics and utility infrastructure which would change the socio-economic landscape in the East
These objectives will be supported by enabling the availability of raw materials, the presence of supporting industries such as capital goods, and well-established avenues for skill development.
Advantages of this Project
Steel capacity addition, as projected in the hub, would entail capital investments over 70 Billion US dollars, and it would lead to an increase in the Gross State Domestic Product over 35 Billion through steel alone. This would provide an opening that would create over 2.5 million new jobs. The world-class logistics and utilities built for this purpose would also provide a significant boost to other industries in and around. It will help in the social and economic development of that particular region. This would, in turn, convert into a higher GSDP and Human Development Index (HDI). It would help in the development of social infrastructure such as schools and colleges, Hospitals, skill development centers, etc.
The steel hub will also serve as an avenue for the Government of India to implement industry 4.0 solutions in the manufacturing processes and be the torchbearers of Industrial Revolution 4.0. It would reduce the wide socio-economic gap between the eastern states of India and other states of India. As per the information from the Ministry, the state of Bihar will also be added to the cluster later. This would, in turn, uplift the 57 backward Districts of that region.
The states that fall under the proposed integrated steel hub:
- Odisha
- Jharkhand
- Chhattisgarh
- West Bengal
- Northern Andhra Pradesh
Stepping Forward
- Indian Government has come up with Rs.102 lakh crore (US$ 1.46 trillion) worth of National Infrastructure Pipeline.
- A policy has been planned out to create and upgrade steel clusters after due consultation with the Central and State Government and the concerned industries. Kalinganagar and Bokaro have been marked as the pilot locations around the ISPs. Task forces have been created, too, and the planning is underway.
- A framework policy is being created to address the challenges faced in land acquisition, raw material linkage, and obtaining.
- Paradip Port Trust has been selected as a major stakeholder in the “Purvodaya” initiative, Kolkata Port will also play a vital role in developing inter-state connectivity through inland waterways.
- The logistics and infrastructure projects are being identified for an expedition across the 12 major steel zones in the region (Kalinganagar, Angul, Rourkela, Jharsuguda, Nagarnar, Bhilai, Raipur, Jamshedpur, Bokaro, Durgapur, Kolkata, Vizag). This also includes major rail, road, and port expansion to widen the existing capacity and come up with world-class multi-modal logistics infrastructure across these zones.
Overall, this project will help in the opening up of a large number of employment opportunities, which would transform into higher steel capacity that would help India move towards the desired five trillion economies, taking along with it, the responsibility of empowering several weaker states as well.
As this is yet to implement, more details can be heard from the Ministry of Steel, Government of India in the below address. Also, we will update the content as and when the information is received.
The Ministry of Steel,
Udyog Bhawan,
Dr. Maulana Azad Road,
New Delhi – 110 011
The corresponding press release can be accessed below:
Purvodaya-integrated-steel-hub