PMO will seek to get Posco steel project moving today

The Prime Minister's Office is likely to take up the issue of Korean steelmaker Posco's proposed $10.5-billion integrated steel plant in Jagatsinghpur with the Odisha government and the company today.

The PMO has called a meeting which will be attended by the cabinet secretary, the secretaries of steel and mines, the Odisha government, and Posco officials, to look for ways to help the long-stalled project get going, a PTI report said/

"The meeting is likely to take place tomorrow (on Tuesday). The PM wants Posco to stay in India and the meeting will find ways to make that happen. The Centre can also suggest a joint venture with Posco to set up a steel plant or a similar arrangement," they added.

The PMO's intervention comes against the backdrop of the steel major temporarily suspending plans to set up an integrated steel plant producing 12 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) steel in Jagatsinghpur district in Odisha, the largest foreign direct investment committed in India so far.

The proposed project has been stalled for about a decade due to various regulatory hurdles, including delays in land acquisition and mining leases.

Last week, Odisha steel and mines minister Prafulla Kumar Mallick had said the tripartite meeting involving the Centre, the Odisha government and Posco representatives will be held in New Delhi on Tuesday. Odisha will be represented by its chief secretary and its steel and mines secretary.