Minister calls for integration of IT with infrastructure development

Bhubaneswar: Terming infrastructure development as foremost priority for economic activities and governance, IT minister Shri Tushar Kanti Behera said Information technology has become bedrock of any infrastructure development from planning stages and is being used even before a single stone lay in any project. He calls for integration of information technology with infra development projects.

Talking at 2^nd East India Summit 2022 organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Odisha chapter here in Bhubaneswar, he highlights important aspects of recently announced Odisha IT Policy 2022. He said that, “Our new policy has provision for capital investment subsidy, power subsidy, interest subsidy, land and rental subsidy, R&D assistance subsidy and human capital investment subsidy. Additional subsidy is also there for units opted to work in emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Cloud computing, Analytics, etc. We assured to provide all kinds of supports to investors in their journey.”

Principal Secretary-Industry Hemant Sharma discussed about workers hostels being set up by Odisha Industrial Development Corporation (IDCO) in different part of the state at large scale basis. Elaborating further about the plan he said that during current financial year IDCO will build worker hostels in 12 major industrial estates. There are also demands industrial units from other industrial estates like Paradeep, Jajpur, Khordha, Kalinganagar, Cuttack, Angul, Dhenkanal, Rourkela, Jharsuguda for the same. IDCO will build industrial houses and worker hostels in these areas in coming years.”

On this occasion, Past Chairman of CII Odisha Chapter Manish Kharbanda talks about importance of Public Private Partnership (PPP) and private sector participation in infrastructure development and said that recently Jindal Steel and Power (JSP) talks about the plan to set up dedicated berth at Paradeep Port to handle large scale vessels. This project will come up in two phases of 12.5 million tonnes capacity each. After the project complete, Paradeep Port can handle additional 25 million tonnes of cargo. He also informs that Odisha has planned to invest Rs 3 lakh crores in infrastructure development in next 5 years.

Vice Chairman of CII Odisha Sashi Sekhar Mohanty delivered welcome address and told that we have to focus on development both physical and digital infrastructure as that will enable India to be in forefront of development and can bring immense economic benefits to all.

On her special address, BMC mayor Sulochana Das said that Odisha is growing rapidly with growth above than national average and Bhubaneswar becomes the hub for this development. Due to rapid growth Bhubaneswar has placed among top three business destination of the country. It becomes favourite destination for investors. She also said that we are working on providing basic amenities to industries of the city.

At the end of the event CII North Odisha Zonal Council Chairman Nitin Kale gives concluding remarks and proposes vote of thanks.