Posco gets clearance for acquiring forest land

BHUBANESWAR: South Korean steel major Posco has something to cheer about with getting final clearance from the ministry of environment and forests for acquiring forest land in Orissa for its $12 billion steel plant project.

A company official on Friday confirmed that the union government gave the clearance on Wednesday.

Posco, the world's second largest steel maker by market value, signed the MoU with the state government in June 2005 to set up 12 million ton steel plant at an estimated cost of Rs 49,000 crore, near Paradeep in the coastal district of Jagatsinghpur, some 100 km from here, by 2016.

The steel maker has been allotted about 4,004 acres of land for its project, of which 2,900 acres was forest land. The company has already deposited Rs.105 crore with the state government towards compensatory afforestation, the company sources added.

The largest FDI project, however, has been delayed by more than two years due to protests by local residents, who do not want to be shifted elsewhere.