JOIN USPM says Posco's Odisha plant will be working soon
Notwithstanding protests against reissuing an environmental clearance to South Korean steelmaker Posco for a plant in Odisha, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said the project would be operational in the weeks ahead.
Prime Minister Singh, who met with South Korean President Park Geun-hye in New Delhi, said, “I am happy that the large-scale Posco steel project in Odisha is set to be operational in the coming weeks, following the revalidation of its environmental clearance.”
“Grant of mining concession for the project is also at an advanced stage of processing,” said Singh, adding, “I conveyed to President Park our hope that this project will confirm that economic growth and environmental protection can go hand in hand.”
Singh’s meeting with Park was followed by signing nine agreements between India and South Korea for cooperation in sectors like defence, cyber-security, science, space research, information and communication technology, broadcasting and culture. The two countries concluded negotiations for revising their Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) and agreed to upgrade their Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. They also agreed to revise the Air Services Agreement.
The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) recently reissued an environment clearance to Posco’s $ 12 billion steel project in Odisha. The original clearance granted for five years expired in July 2012.
Posco had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the government of Odisha in June 2005 for setting up a 12 million tonne per annum green field steel plant near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district of the State with an estimated investment of $ 12 billion. The project was delayed due to protests by local villagers, environmentalists and difficulties in land acquisition.
The proposed plant has now been downgraded to a capacity of eight million tonne per year. It will need 2700 acres of land which has already been acquired by the Odisha Government.