Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, now on a weeklong trip to Japan to attract industrial investments from the far eastern country, visited the Kimitsu Steel Works of Nippon Steel Corporation (NSC) established on the land reclaimed from sea.

The delegation from Odisha was briefed about the plant and given a tour of the facility.  The visit to NSC’s Kimitsu Steel Works gave an opportunity for the team to learn about the latest technologies and processes used by NSC in the production of steel, said a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) on Thursday.

The plant was established on land reclaimed from sea and used environmentally sustainable green technologies. The depth of the sea used to be more than 10m. The plant has a large lay out campus and green tree belts. The Plant produces diversified specialised steel products used for various downstream industries like the automobiles, it said.

Patnaik expressed his admiration for the state-of-the-art facility and the commitment of NSC towards excellence in steel production. He discussed the use of similar green technologies for the plants coming up in Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts. The proposed plant will also focus on specialised steel products which will enable downstream industries in Odisha, the CMO’s statement informed.

The chief minister highlighted the immense potential for collaboration between NSC and Odisha, given the state’s rich mineral resources and potential in the steel sector. He assured the NSC officials committed support of his government for ArcelorMittal-Nippon Steel (AM/NS) India’s upcoming integrated steel plants in Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur in Odisha. The projects will use huge volumes of iron ore fines which will help in value addition of the mineral within Odisha in comparison to current trend of exporting the iron ore fines.

It may be noted here that Odisha received investment intent of Rs 26,000 crore in various sectors as Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik met Japanese industrialists in Tokyo on Wednesday. The investment intent was received in sectors such as logistics, steel, Green Hydrogen and IT/ITeS.

A MoU for collaboration in the skill development sector was also signed between Nihon-Utkal and IIIT, Bhubaneswar, an official release issued by the chief minister’s office said.