Naveen Visits Nippon Steel Plant in Japan

Bhubaneswar: Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, who is on a Japan tour, visited a plant of Nippon Steel Corporation on Thursday. Naveen, who made a factory visit to the Kimitsu Steel Works and the Research & Development centre of Nippon Steel Corp along with the state delegation, expressed optimism about the Japanese company’s proposed projects in Odisha.

The Chief Minister in an Instagram post said he was happy to witness the environment friendly steps taken by the company during his visit to the plant. The company is taking significant measures in steel production by using green technology, he said. “I am highly hopeful about the steel plants proposed to be set up in Kendrapada and Jagatsinghpur with their cooperation,” the Chief Minister said.

Naveen’s visit to the plant comes two days after his meeting with Nippon Steel president Eiji Hashimoto at Tokyo on Tuesday during which they discussed avenues of collaboration between the Japanese steel giant and the Odisha government. The Japanese steel major plans to set up the largest and modern steel plant with a production capacity of 30 million tonne per annum (MTPA) in Odisha. Now, globally 20 MTPA steel plant is the largest.

Notably, AMNS India, a joint venture of Arcellor Mittal and Nippon Steel, has signed two MoUs with Odisha to establish two steel mills and early commissioning of these projects can generate direct jobs for 28,000 people. Naveen, who is on a week-long visit to Japan, addressed Business Meet Tokyo 2023 on Wednesday which saw Rs 26,000 crore investment intents across green hydrogen and green ammonia, green energy equipment manufacturing, IT/ITeS, logistics, metal ancillary, steel, and metal downstream sectors, according to an official release.

An MoU for collaboration in skill development sector was also signed between Nihon-Utkal (NITKAL) and IIIT, Bhubaneswar. A business delegation from Odisha, representing steel, aluminium, textiles, food and sea-food processing, green hydrogen and green ammonia sectors, is also accompanying Naveen. This is the Chief Minister’s third official overseas trip in his 23-year rule and is being seen as an attempt to give a push to investment in the state ahead of the 2024 twin polls.