Has South Korean steel-maker Posco given up on its Odisha project? Despite delays in land acquisition and the Centre rejecting Odisha government’s proposal to allocate iron ore mines to Posco, the company has not raised the issue with Steel and Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.

“From my various interactions with Posco officials, they haven’t yet mentioned about Odisha. I don’t know for what reason. However, what they have expressed satisfaction about is the mineral auction process,” Tomar told BusinessLine . He said the government will welcome Posco’s investments in India. “We want them to take part in the mineral auctions. We will be happy if they invest in India and will welcome them here,” said the Minister. Incidentally, the Posco project did not feature in the bilateral talks held during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to South Korea.

Posco had first signed a memorandum of understanding with the Odisha government in 2005 whereby it proposed to set up a 10 million tonne a year steel project at an investment of an estimated ₹52,000 crore.

Posco was to get land as well as iron ore mines in Odisha. While land acquisition was not complete, a proposal from the Odisha government to grant a prospecting licence to Posco for the Khandadhar iron ore mines was also rejected by the Modi government.

“The proposal to give them the mine had come after we had put up the draft Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Amendment, which stated our intention of auctioning all mineral leases. Now, once we have made our intention of auctioning mining leases public, it would have been unfair to approve the proposal of giving mines to Posco on the basis of the earlier regulation and practices,” said Tomar.

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