The chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) of Posco India, Yong-Won Yoon, on Friday expressed the hope that the State Government would soon hand over the remaining land required to start the first phase of the proposed steel plant to be set up by the company near Paradip.
Yoon, who met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here on Friday, is reported to have discussed the renewal of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the State Government. The file in this regard is with the Chief Minister.
Asked when is the MoU going to be renewed, Yoon said the Chief Minister will take a final call on this. He, however, hoped that a decision will be taken soon. The Posco-India CMD was also not sure when the process of land acquisition will be completed. “But with the Government taking positive initiative to clear the land, we are hopeful that it will be handed over to us soon,” he said.
Jagatsinghpur District Collector Satya Mallik told this paper that land acquisition has reached the last phase and will be completed soon. He said 2,000 acres of land has so far been acquired by the Government of which 1,703.1 acres have been handed over to the company. The rest of the land, which is revenue land, will be handed over soon, he said.
Posco-India is also banking on the decision of the Centre for iron ore mining in Khandadhar hills in Sundargarh district following the May 10 judgment of the Supreme Court. The apex court, on May 10, had set aside the Orissa High Court ruling which had quashed the State Government’s petition for prospecting licence to Posco in Khandadhar hills and directed the Centre to look into the issue all over again.
Replying to a question, the Posco-India CMD said the company has already started corporate social activities in the area. “Since its a big project, we need to plan a proper CSR master plan and accordingly we will implement it,” he said.