Admitting that progress of projects proposed by two global steel majors — Posco and ArcelorMittal — are “not satisfactory”, the Orissa government said it is optimistic about Tata Steel, Bhushan and Jindal ventures.

“Both Tata (6 mtpa) and Jindal (6 mtpa) have assured the State Government that they will go for production by 2013,” said Steel and Mines Minister, Mr Raghunath Mohanty, who reviewed progress of 50 MoU signing steel projects.

Even as there had been no visible progress in Posco and ArcelorMittal projects, the State Government hoped that both would overcome hurdles. Both Posco and ArcelorMittal had proposed to set up 12mtpa capacity greenfield steel mills each in Jagatsinghpur and Keonjhar district at an investment of Rs 52,000 crore and Rs 40,000 crore, respectively.

Tata Steel is setting up a 6 mtpa steel project at Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district and likely to go into production in 2013, the Minister said, adding Bhushan Steels Ltd and Jindal Steels and Power Ltd (JSPL) were also putting up mega steel units in Angul and Dhenkanal districts.

Bhusan and Jindal were likely to start commercial production in 2012 and 2013, respectively, he said adding, JSPL has so far invested Rs 11,283.24 crore out of its proposed investment of Rs 13,135.02 crore.

Similarly, Bhushan Steel Ltd has so far invested Rs 12,000 crore out of investment proposal of Rs 13,183 crore at its Dhenkanal project where it was setting up a 6mtpa capacity steel mill, the Minister said.

Tata Steel had also made satisfactory investment, he said.

On the Posco project, the Minister said the South Korean steel major is facing stiff opposition from local people near Paradip and therefore failed to acquire land for the purpose. “Besides, the company has not been allotted raw material linkage and a case in this regard is pending in the court,” he said.

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