BHUBANESWAR: Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group on Friday unveiled a grand spending plan of over Rs 60,000 crore in Orissa, which included an investment blueprint for the world's largest pithead thermal power plant.
The 12,000 MW coal-fired plant is expected to be set up at Hirma in Jharsuguda district in phases, ADAG Chairman Anil Ambani told reporters at the state secretariat here after a meeting with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
"I have no doubt in my mind that Orissa with its coal reserves will be the power capital of the entire country. Over the next few decades, Orissa will have its rightful place (as a developed state) in India," he said.
Ambani, who offered prayers at the Jagannath temple at Puri earlier in the day, said the outlay for the power plant would be in excess of Rs 50,000 crore, while another Rs 10,000 crore would be invested for transmission and evacuation of the power generated.
"It will represent the largest investment in power sector anywhere in the world," he said, adding a 4,300 MW coal-fired plant in South Africa was the largest thermal unit at a single location at present.
ADAG's spending plan is also the largest for any project by a group in the country and beats the Rs 52,000 crore investment proposal of South Korean steel giant Posco and the Rs 30,000-40,000 crore steel plant plan of Mittal Steel--both in Orissa.
Besides Rs 60,000 crore for the power plant and allied works, the group would be investing in a health city, IT and IT related infrastructure in the state.
The health city would have a hospital and infrastructure for medical education and research near Bhubaneswar, he said.
