On Sunday, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi announced that JSW and POSCO will collaborate to set up a large steel plant in the Patna area of Keonjhar district, with an estimated investment of approximately Rs 40,000 crore. Speaking at a public gathering in Champua, Majhi expressed his pride in fulfilling his commitment to bring a major steel plant to the district, saying, “It was my dream to establish a steel plant in Keonjhar district, and with God’s grace, I am able to make this dream a reality as Chief Minister.”
Alongside the Patna area, Majhi also mentioned plans to develop steel industries across various parts of the district, with a total investment exceeding Rs 1 lakh crore. Earlier this year, during the ‘Utkarsh Odisha-Make in Odisha Conclave’ on January 28, JSW Group, under the leadership of Sajjan Jindal, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Odisha government to set up a 5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) steel plant in Keonjhar.
In October of the previous year, JSW and South Korea’s POSCO had also signed an MoU for an integrated steel plant in India, initially targeting a 5 MTPA capacity. However, the exact location of the facility has not been disclosed.
Additionally, CM Majhi announced a Rs 4 crore grant for the construction of a three-story building at Chandra Sekhar College in Champua. This comes after the state’s Higher Education Minister, Suryabanshi Suraj, pledged a Rs 3.30 crore grant for the college’s development. On the same day, Majhi inaugurated a five-day Regional Agricultural Machinery Fair in Keonjhar, emphasizing the importance of agriculture in the state, where over 60% of the population depends on farming and related activities for their livelihood.
