The Hindu Business Line : POSCO land acquisition delayed

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Bhubaneswar Feb. 13 South Korean steelmaker POSCO, which is worried over the delay in getting land for its 12 million-tonne capacity steel plant project in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district, said on Tuesday that it was hopeful of completing the land acquisition process by September.

Although the company had earlier planned to start land preparation for the project from April this year, a company official said they were now hoping to start it after the acquisition process is over.

"Construction of the plant is scheduled to start from September 2008," the official said, while adding that the first phase with capacity of 4 MTPA will be commissioned by end of 2010 as per schedule.

"With the close co-operation from both the State and Union Governments we plan to complete the project in a time-bound manner," the official added.

In a high level meeting organised by the State Government on Monday, the company officials had expressed concern over the delay in land acquisition. The issue pertaining to the people's opposition to the project was also discussed in the meeting.

As against the company's requirement of 4,004 acres of land for the steel project, the State has so far been able to provide only 1,135 acres. But the company was yet to take possession of the land as a major portion of it was under encroachment. The company requires at least 3,000 acres to start land preparation.

POSCO, which established its Indian company POSCO-India in August 2005, has already obtained in principle special economic zone status for the project. But delay in land acquisition has been a major stumbling block.

As regards allotment of mines, the State Government has already recommended the company's case to the Centre for grant of prospecting licence for Khandadhar mines in Keonjhar district. Although the Centre has sought certain clarifications on the issue, the company official said that they were hopeful of getting the clearance in due course. The company has already incurred expenditures to the tune of Rs 100 crore. It is running four offices in Bhubaneswar, New Delhi, Paradip and Kujang, a place close to the project site.

As regards its captive port at Jatadhari near the steel plant site, the company has already obtained the environmental clearance from the Centre and the detailed design of the port was in progress, the official said.