Patna, Dec 20 (IANS) Pranav Adani, Managing Director, Agro, Oil and Gas and Director of Adani Enterprises, on Friday unveiled a massive Rs 27,900 crore investment plan for Bihar, with the potential of creating as many as 53,500 jobs in the state. Addressing the ‘Bihar Business Connect’ summit here, Pranav Adani said that “there can be no better validation” of the Adani Group’s belief in the leadership of state Chief Minister Nitish Kumar “than the humble fact that we are the largest private investor in Bihar.” Providing a snapshot of the Adani Group’s current and future investment roadmap for Bihar, Pranav Adani said, “In three sectors, logistics, gas distribution and agri-logistics, we have already invested around Rs 850 crore and have also created around 25,000 direct and indirect employment opportunities.”

Pranav Adani said that the Adani Group was now going to invest another Rs 2,300 crore in these sectors. This investment will not only massively increase the Group’s warehousing and handling capacity and expand its presence in the EV, CGD (city gas distribution) and CBG (compressed biogas) space but will also generate an additional 27,000 direct and indirect local job opportunities. Pranav Adani further stated that the Adani Group was working closely with the state government to potentially invest another Rs 1,000 crore in developing strategic infrastructure in the state, like Gati Shakti Railway Terminals, ICDs (Inland Container Depots) and Industrial Warehousing Parks.

The Adani Group also plans to invest Rs 2,100 crore to manufacture and install over 28 lakh smart meters to automate power-consumption- monitoring in five cities – Siwan, Gopalganj, Vaishali, Saran and Samastipur – and this will generate at least 4,000 local jobs in this technology segment, Pranav Adani noted. Pranav Adani highlighted that the Group had already started work on its greenfield cement plant at Warisaliganj and now plans to invest another Rs 2,500 crore in Bihar to set up a cement manufacturing capacity of 10 MMTPA in multiple phases. This has the potential to create at least 9,000 direct and indirect jobs for the people of the state.

“We are also exploring investment avenues in Bihar’s energy sector. Our plan is to invest around Rs 20,000 crore to set up an ultra-supercritical thermal power plant,” Pranav Adani said, adding that this massive project is expected to open up at least 12,000 job vacancies in the pre-commissioning phase – and also lead to around 1,500 skilled jobs during the operational phase. Pranav Adani lauded Chief Minister’s “relentless focus” on improving the business landscape in Bihar which is “paving the way for an investment boom in the years ahead.” “On behalf of the Adani Group, let me thank you for your constant support, guidance and encouragement – and also for the opportunity to do more in Bihar – with Bihar – for Bihar,” Pranav Adani remarked.

/IANS