The Hindu Business Line : POSCO reduces land area for steel mill

Despite the delay in getting land in view of the stiff opposition from the local populace, Korean steel major POSCO is confident of starting the construction of its proposed 12-million-tonne capacity steel mill in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district by April next.

In order to contain people's opposition to the project and minimise displacement, the company has already decreased its land requirement from 4,500 acres to 4,004 acres by excluding several villages that came under the site initially planned for the plant and the captive port.

As per the original plan, 2,000 families were to be displaced in the site of 4,500 acres.

But the changed layout of 4,004 acres has only 450 families living in seven villages, including Dhinkia, Nuagaon, Gobindpur and Noliasahi.

As opposition from the people facing displacement due to the project remains a major roadblock for land acquisition, the company officials are now contemplating further decrease in the land area by revising the site plan once again.

"Keeping in view the main objectives of the new resettlement and rehabilitation policy of the Orissa Government, we may exclude a few more thickly populated villages to minimise displacement," Mr Soung-Sik Cho, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of POSCO- India, told Business Line. The State Government has so far committed 1,135 acres of government land to POSCO at the proposed site. But the company is yet to take possession of the land.

"We hope to complete the land acquisition process by the end of this year and start construction of the plant by April next as was scheduled initially," he said.

Mining lease

As regards getting iron ore for the proposed plant, the company has applied for mining lease and prospecting licence to the Orissa Government.

The applications are being processed by the State Government for recommending to the Centre for grant of necessary clearances. "We are hopeful of getting the mining lease in time," Mr Cho said.

Captive port

Meanwhile, the Orissa State Coastal Zone Management Authority (OSCZMA) on Monday decided to recommend granting of provisional clearance on coastal regulatory zone notification for the company's proposed captive port adjacent to the plant site near Paradip.

The State Government had sought OSCZMA's recommendations pertaining to the proposed captive port, which would be forwarded to the Centre for environmental clearance.

POSCO had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Orissa Government for the steel project in June last year.

However, the process of land acquisition had come to virtual halt in the aftermath of the firing incident at Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district where 12 tribals and a policeman were killed on January 2 this year.