POSCO’s Orissa steel plant may finally take off in October

South Korean steel major POSCO's steel mega-project near Paradip port in Orissa, held up for the last seven years over land acquisition and environmental clearance problems, may finally take off in October, according to various reports.

The project, to be set up at a cost of $12 billion (Rs52,000 crore) is billed as the largest-ever foreign direct investment in India. It will produce eight million tonnes (mt) per annum of steel initially, and be up-scaled gradually.

The project requires 2,700 acres of land just for launch; POSCO is seeking 4,004 acres for the entire project - a vast size of land in a country with very high population density.

"The Orissa government has acquired 2,100 acres [for the project]. They have given an assurance that they will transfer 2,700 acres of land to us in next few months. After the transfer, we hope to start land preparation for the project by October," PTI reported a POSCO official as saying.

"The development came in a recent meeting of our chairman and managing director for India Y W Yoon and Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik," the official added.

The state government and POSCO have also reached an understanding to initially downsize the project to 8 mt a year from the 12 mt proposed earlier, the POSCO official said.