Investment-starved West Bengal will see the completion of two major industrial projects totalling an investment of nearly Rs 23,000 crores by this month end.

While one public sector project would be the largest dose of capital infusion in the state in recent times, the other would be the biggest dose of private sector investment under the present government.

One project is the Rs 17,000-crore greenfield steel plant of Steel Authority of India Ltd at Burnpur near Asansol and the other is the Rs 4600-crore power plant of the private sector RP Sanjiv Goenka group at Haldia in Purba Medinipur.

Both projects were conceived a few years ago with the steel project suffering a four-year delay due to a host of project-related factors as well as recent problems related to land acquisition.

The project generated massive employment during the construction phase and has already propelled regeneration of local economy around Burnpur where one of Asia’s oldest steel plant which started production in 1870 still stands. It is SAIL’s first greenfield plant since Bokaro Steel Plant

The first unit of the 600 MW Haldia Thermal Power Project of CESC is expected to be commissioned end of November and is among the biggest private sector investments since the All India Trinamool Congress government came to power in May 2011.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kolkata / by Indrani Dutta / Kolkata – November 14th, 2014