Posco Chief will be meeting Odisha CM

Posco Chief will be meeting Odisha CM 16/05/2012

SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,BUREAU CHIEF,ODISHA
INDINO/THESE DAYS NEWS SERVICE:

POSCO chairman and managing director Choon-Kuhn Kwon to meet Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. During his meeting the State Government likely to seek a fresh detailed project report from Posco India concerning its proposal to downsize the proposed 12-MTPA steel project near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district.


State Steel and Mines Minister Raghu Nath Mohanty said since the South Korean Ambassador to India, Kim Joong Keon had indicated that Posco could revise its plan and go for a smaller plant with reduced capacity instead of its original design of setting up a 12-MTPA steel mill if the situation did not permit to do so, the company was asked to give a fresh proposal so as to enable the Government to examine it and take necessary steps for renewal of the MoU and to provide land and other required infrastructural facilities.


He said every possible effort has been made by the State Government since the receipt of Stage-II clearance from the Government of India in May, 2011 to complete the process of handing over the balance required land. "Posco India needs to appreciate the difficult ground reality and should come forward with revised project proposal along with CSR activities to make it easy for the Government to resolve various issues pertaining to the establishment of the project," Mohanty said.


He said after the Government of India accorded Stage-II approval of diversion of 2959 acres of forestland, so fare 1,600 acres of forestland has been cleared and handed over to the IDCO to be taken over by Posco India.


Of the total land requirement of 4,004 acres as per the original design, he said, IDCO has already acquired over 2,000 acres of land and lease deed has been executed by the IDCO with Posco India for 558 acres of non-forest land and possession was also given. Around 1,500 acres of land is ready to be handed over to Posco, he said.


Mohanty said out of 3,567 acres of Government land in the plant site, both forest and non-forest action has already been completed with respect to 2,158 acres representing 60 per cent of the total Government land. For the balance land, the Government is making serious efforts through regular and continuous dialogue with the eight villages which are part of the ambitious Rs 52,000-crore FDI project.


Stating that the State Government is committed to peaceful industrialization process, he said continuous and systematic dialogue with all stake holders is undergoing at present to take possession of the balance land. Every effort is being made to address the emerging issues to reach an amicable settlement in a congenial atmosphere.


Mohanty said he had called for a high-level meeting to be held by the end of this month to review the progress in case the companies renewed MoUs. The State Government had signed MoUs with 50 companies for setting up of steel projects, of which as many as 35 companies had started production, Mohanty said.