India has assured South Korea that it will expedite steel major Posco’s proposed $12-billion plant in Odisha and stage one of the project will take off soon.
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma discussed details of the project with his South Korean counterpart Yoon Sang-jick on Wednesday.
South Korea is concerned about the eight-year delay in the project over land and forest issues, but is hopeful that things would pick up after the recent environmental clearance.
“When it comes to prospecting, comments of the Orissa Government are with the Government of India. The same will be pursued and expedited so that stage one takes off,” Sharma told reporters after his meeting with the Korean Minister.
Things have recently looked up for the project with the Environment Ministry finally giving its clearance. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has also given the State’s approval for Posco to prospect the Khandadhar region, which has an estimated iron-ore reserve of 200 million tonnes.
“Stage one will be 2,718 acres, of which over 1,700 acres have already been handed over. For the remainder, I think the Orissa Government has put together another package,” Sharma said. The part of the identified land which falls in the forest area will be denotified, he added. The Minister said that stage one of the project will attract over half of the projected investment of $12 billion.
A prospecting licence for Posco was originally recommended by the State in 2006, but the allocation was challenged in court. In May 2013, the Supreme Court asked the Centre to process Odisha’s recommendation and in July, the Mines Ministry asked the State to re-submit its recommendation under the new formats and guidelines.
Some ‘green’ groups have questioned the speedy environmental clearances given by Environment Minister Veerappa Moily to a number of stuck projects, including Posco, after he recently took over from Jayanthi Natarajan.