Posco`s port project clears environment objections

Mumbai: The centre given environmental clearance to the captive minor port, part of South Korean steel major Posco''s Rs52,000-crore project near Paradip port. The port is to be located at Jatadhari mouth in Jagatsinghpur district.

The clearance has been issued by the union ministry of environment and forest for construction of the port, which has been facing opposition from various quarters on environmental ground.

Soung-Sik Cho, chairman-cum-managing director, Posco-India Ltd, had recently said that the company would require the port as it was a "basic need" for the 12-MTPA project along with captive mines.

"These (port and mine) are basic needs without which you cannot survive in global business," he had said.

Opposition political parties and environment groups had objected to Posco-India''s plan to have a captive port at the mouth of the Jatadhari creek, about 12km south of Paradip port, saying it might harm the existing major port nearby.