Posco in a tearing hurry to set up Orissa steel plant

BHUBANESWAR: Posco seems to be in a hurry to acquire land for its proposed 12 million tonne plant at Paradip. Even after 17 months, there has been very little progress in land acquisition as well as ground survey work at Paradip due to resistance by local villagers and left parties. The tardy progress has caused serious concern in the camp of the South Korean steel major.

Posco’s CEO, Ku-Taek Lee is understood to have sought a time frame on handing over the land to the company at a meeting with chief minister Naveen Patnaik here on Tuesday. Official sources said the government made it clear to him that land acquisition could take a minimum of six more months as the government has to address several sensitive issues like livelihood concerns of the displaced. The issue of ascertaining the extent of forest land, as to how much of it had already been dereserved also figured during the discussions.

The Naveen government does not want to burn its fingers once again with the spectre of mayhem at Kalinganagar, early this year, haunting it. A wrong step by the authority could spell doom for not only Posco but also other steel majors like, Arcelor-Mittal.

Sources said, the government explained Mr Lee that people need to be taken into confidence before their eviction from their homeland. It underscored the need to address the livelihood concerns of betel vine growers, fishermen and other people. Mr Lee in particular impressed the government on the need for expeditious completion of the process. He also assured the state government that all livelihood concerns will be addressed and the state government’s Resettlement and Rehabilitation [R&R] policy would be implemented in letter and spirit.

Later talking to media persons, Mr Lee reiterated the company’s commitment on the mega steel plant project. He underplayed the delay caused by resistance movements saying such small hitches were bound to take place. On the other hand, he asserted that significant progress had been made and the project was on schedule. The Posco CEO described his discussions with the chief minister and state government officials as ‘warm and fruitful’.