The Utkal Chamber of Commerce & Industries (UCCI), an apex body of industries and trade in Orissa, has floated thee special purpose vehicles (SPVs) to promote industrialisation in the state.
New UCCI president Niranjan Mohanty said Utkal Infrastructure Development Consortium Pvt Ltd (UIDC), a consortium of micro, small and medium enterprises, has been floated to carry out assignments during implementation of mega projects coming up in Orissa. UIDC has already bagged contracts worth Rs 17 crore from Tata Steel and state government-owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corp (IDCO).
“Our target is to bag contracts worth at least Rs 100 crore by 2008-09”, said Debabrata Das, the director (operations) of UIDC.
About 25 SSI entrepreneurs have formed an SPV, Orissa Knit Complex, to set up an apparel cluster under the public-private partnership model. The UCCI took the initiative in this regard. IL&FS is acting as the project consultant.
“We have requested the IDCO for allotment of land so that the Centre can consider assistance under the SITP scheme”, said Kedar Patnaik, the newly elected secretary of the UCCI. UCCI treasurer Shashi Sekhar Samal said the state government has entrusted the UCCI with the job of developing an engineering cluster. A consortium of some of the existing engineering units has been formed to manufacture marketable products utilising the capacity of each unit, which complements each other, and market those products under one umbrella, he added.
The UCCI is also now planning to set up a plastic cluster in the state. Reliance Industries Ltd may be asked to prepare the project details.
