Orissa to host Arcelor Mittal plant

BHUBANESWAR: Arcelor Mittal on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Orissa government for setting up a 12 million tonne steel plant in the state at an investment of Rs 40,000 crore, virtually ending Jharkhand's hopes of hosting the world's largest steelmaker.

The MoU was signed by Orissa steel secretary L N Gupta and Group management board member of Arcelor Mittal Malay Mukherjee in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Mittal Steel had earlier signed an MoU with the Jharkhand government for setting up a plant in that state, but the project could not make much headway owing to indecisiveness on allocation of iron ore mines.

Under the MoU with Orissa government, Arcelor Mittal, which was created after Mittal Steel acquired its key rival Arcelor, would set up the project in the tribal-dominated Keonjhar district in two phases of six million tonnes each.

This is the second mega steel project proposed in the iron ore-rich state after the South Korean steel giant POSCO's 12 million tonne plant at an investment of Rs 52,000 crore near the port town of Paradip.

Arcelor Mittal's proposal would also include facilities for coke oven, steel making, rolling mills and a captive power plant of 750 MW.

"We have always said that we want to have an operational presence in India. The Indian economy is demonstrating excellent growth and steel consumption is set to increase considerably in the future," a company release quoted Arcelor Mittal President and CEO Lakshmi N Mittal as saying.

Orissa being rich in minerals was an ideal location for such a greenfield venture, he added.