___________

The following is extracted from an ndtvprofit.com report.

• The state government, Posco agreed to April 1 deadline as the date was significant for both Orissa and the steel major. It is observed as ‘Utkal Divas’ and also the anniversary of Posco, Lee said.
• During the discussion, Patnaik pointed out that 512 acres of government land had already been sanctioned to Posco, while 3,000 acres of forest land was cleared by the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC), official sources said.

  Posco required 4,004 acres near Paradip to set up its proposed 12 mtpa capacity steel mill which had been facing opposition from the local people. “Though land was ready for handover to Posco, this could not be done in the face of stiff opposition from the local people,” they said.

• Patnaik said the state government would complete hearing of all applications for Khandadhar mines in Sundargarh district by November, sources said.

  Orissa government had already recommended the name of the South Korean company for the Prospecting Licence (PL), they said.

• Patnaik urged Lee to immediately commence construction of transit accommodation for the displaced people and a training center for imparting technical education to local youths so that they could be provided with jobs in future.

Following are excerpts from a report on this in sify.com.

Stemcor India, which is setting up a Rs 1,500 crore iron ore pelletisation project in Orissa, achieved financial closure, securing Rs 960 crore debt with SBI Capital Markets as the lead arranger.

Stemcor India, a subsidiary of Stemcor, the London-headquartered $5 billion steel trading major headed by Ralph Oppenheimer, will fund the remaining Rs 540 crore through equity in setting up a 4 million tonne pellet plant in Kalinganagar.

This will be connected by a 220-km slurry pipeline to Barbil, in Keonjhar district, the heart of private iron ore mining in Orissa, where a beneficiation unit would be located.

Senior Stemcor India officials said that with the financial closure, the first tonne of pellets would be out in 2009.

Several steel companies, already in Kalinganagar or implementing projects, have submitted letters of intent to source raw materials from Stemcor.

The demand is such that the order book for at least 75 per cent of the projected capacity has already been secured.

The company plans to set aside 25 per cent of output to be placed in the spot market to benefit from rising prices of pellets.

Officials said that while the prices of pellets would be on a negotiated basis with customers, lump ore price charged by NMDC Ltd, the state-run mining major, would serve as a benchmark price for the domestic market.

Kalinganagar is the destination for many steel companies like Tata Steel, Visa Steel, Bhushan Steel, Jindal Stainless, Murugappa group and Maharashtra Seamless.

Many of these companies, which do not have mining linkages, are obvious customers of Stemcor pellets.

… In the domestic market, smaller non-integrated steel plants, which typically have blast furnaces but no iron ore plant or sinter plants and do not have resources to invest in pelletisation, would source raw materials from Stemcor.

Also, metallurgically, a combination of lumps and pellets fed into blast furnaces can increase steel production substantially. The Orissa beneficiation and pelletisation project is Stemcor’s second plant after a 6 million tonne plant in Tasmania.

In 2000, Stemcor had entered into a joint venture with Essar for a pelletisation plant in Vishakapatanam but later sold a 51 per cent stake to Essar.

Following are excerpts from an Economic Times report on this.

Monnet Ispat and Energy Limited on Friday said it plans to enhance capacity of its proposed steel unit from 0.3 MTPA to 2.5 MTPA and apprised the state government of the same.

The company’s managing director Sandeep Jajodia, who met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here, told reporters an integrated power project and a small steel unit in Orissa would be set up with an investment of Rs 4,200 crore.

The company had already acquired 450 acre out of its total requirement of nearly 1200 acre at Mangalapur, nearly 30 km from Cuttack, Jajodia said.

He said that the company’s proposed 1,000 MW thermal power plant was expected to be commissioned within three years.

“We have already acquired land for the purpose. Construction work for the project would start within 12 months after getting some more land,” Jajodia said, adding that the company would sign another MoU with the state government relating to capacity enhancement of its steel unit.

He said the company would first go for the power unit before starting the steel project. …

Following is an excerpt from a New Indian Express report on this.

Expanding its business portfolio, the Kolkata-based Saraf Group, promoters of Forum Mart shopping malls, has now decided to set up a titanium plant at Chhatrapur in Ganjam district.

The plant will be set up over 600 acres of land at an investment of Rs 2,000 crore in collaboration with the Russian Government. Production is likely to start by 2009- end.

This was disclosed by Saraf Group chairman S M Shroff while talking to mediapersons here on Tuesday. He said the project had received approval of the State Government and an MoU would be signed soon. The company had already acquired 200 acres.

He also announced setting up of two more shopping malls in the State, buoyed by the success of Forum Mart here. Both the malls – to come up in the Capital city and in Berhampur, would also have four-screen multiplex. The projects are likely to be completed by 2009-end.

Ranchi express reports that TATA M.D. B. MuthuRaman claims that Orissa is the ideal destination of investment growth among mineral rich states. Excerpts:

” Pleased with the progress of the company’s Kalinganagar (Orissa) project- especially with the approach of the Navin Patnayak government towards industrial development- Tata Steel Managing Director (MD) B.Muthuraman on Wednesday declared the mine-rich State as an ideal destination for investment growth.

“Of the three states- Jharkhand, Orissa and Chattisgarh- where we have announced Geenfield projects, Orissa a doing very well in terms of industrial development. I see the State develop immensely in the next few years,” Muthuraman said at an informal gathering at Beldih Club here.

Tata Steel is setting up a 6-MT Greenfield project in Orissa, besides Korean Steel Giant Psoco and Arcelor-Mittal have also signed MoUs with Patnaik government for setting up a 12-MT Greenfield project each. Among the three, the Tata Steel project may complete early as the company has made much headway in its mission in the last few months.”

” Pleased with the progress of the company’s Kalinganagar (Orissa) project- especially with the approach of the Navin Patnayak government towards industrial development- Tata Steel Managing Director (MD) B.Muthuraman on Wednesday declared the mine-rich State as an ideal destination for investment growth.

“Of the three states- Jharkhand, Orissa and Chattisgarh- where we have announced Geenfield projects, Orissa a doing very well in terms of industrial development. I see the State develop immensely in the next few years,” Muthuraman said at an informal gathering at Beldih Club here.

Tata Steel is setting up a 6-MT Greenfield project in Orissa, besides Korean Steel Giant Psoco and Arcelor-Mittal have also signed MoUs with Patnaik government for setting up a 12-MT Greenfield project each. Among the three, the Tata Steel project may complete early as the company has made much headway in its mission in the last few months.” This is in contrast to TATA local head B.D. Panda’s opinion a few days back , that Orissa is notthe frontline state for investment and Bengal is a preferable option.

This could also be construed a favourable response after the NDTV report talking about TATAs sitting on most high quality iron ore in Orissa.

Also, since the news item was in Jharkhand we should look at this news from a competitive perspective.

Following is an excerpt from a New Indian Express report.

The Assembly Committee on Industry has suggested that dedicated industrial parks should be set up for micro, small and medium scale industries in Kalinga Nagar, Jharsuguda, Paradip, Rayagada, Angul and Dhenkanal in view of the large number of mega industries coming up in several industrial zones in the State.

In its latest report, the committee said such parks should be specially earmarked for ancillary and downstream industries. It observed that considering the importance of the small and medium enterprises in employment generation and economic growth of the State, priority attention should be given for the revival and promotion of these sectors.

Official sources maintained that till November, 2006, investment in these two sectors had touched Rs 2,652.8 crore with employment generation of 5.48 lakh. Cluster approach has been adopted for development of small scale industries and major clusters have been identified for development and marketing linkage with the assistance of United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).

The panel, however, observed that though 45 MoUs had been signed for establishment of steel plants in the State, progress has not been satisfactory. Of these, 20 companies have invested Rs 12,085 crore and started commercial production by December, 2006. These companies have created direct employment opportunities for 9,131 persons.

In the steel sector, investment has been estimated at Rs 1,86,499 crore with a total capacity of 73.43 million ton per annum. In the aluminium sector, two companies have signed MoUs with a proposed investment of Rs 25,000 crore.

Indian Oil Corporation is also setting up a refinery and petrochemical complex of 15 million ton capacity per annum with an investment of Rs 25,000 crore. Official sources said a chemical and petrochemical investment region is proposed to be set up at Paradip.

The committee has suggested that polytechnics should be established in all districts of the State and industrial training centres in all the block headquarters.

Besides, the 10 ITIs in the State should be upgraded gradually with 75 percent Central assistance, it added.

Following is an excerpt from  a New Indian Express report.

At a public hearing at Badmal bazaar here on Thursday, Vedanta Alumina Limited (VAL) allayed fears of villagers regarding issues like pollution and periphery development after its proposed expansion.

… The villagers were told that a report will be submitted to the Central Pollution Control Board and Ministry of Environment and Forest for their nod. Villagers also raised apprehensions on jobs for locals.

In his reply, General Manager (PR & CSR), VAL Orissa Projects, Prashant Kumar Hota made a presentation on the state-of-the-art technology being used to prevent noise, water, air and hazardous waste pollution. Even fly-ash generated will be recycled.

Later talking to this paper, Hota informed that a mobile medical unit is catering to about 4500 patients. He said plans are on to construct a 50- bed hospital in one of the villages.

Following is from Team Orissa‘s September 2007 newsletter.

Kalinga times reports that a new squad has been formed to check the theft of minerals from rich regions in Orissa. Excerpts:

… Orissa government has finally decided to constitute a special enforcement squad to conduct frequent raids to check theft and illegal transportation of various minerals in different parts of the State.

The decision about formation of the special squad was taken at a review meeting organised by the Steel and Mines Department of the State government here on Wednesday.

The squad, to be named State Mining Enforcement Squad, will be headed by a Mining Department official. It will also have an official of the Forest Department and 12 security personnel.

The squad will be put in place within a month, the meeting decided.

Steel and Mines Minister Padmanabha Behera who presided over the meeting has requested the Forest and Homes Departments to depute their staff for the squad.

In fact, it took the Steel and Mines Department seven months to take a formal decision on the formation of the special squad.

In a statement issued after a similar review meeting held in February this year, the Department had announced that it would constitute a squad to check smuggling of minerals.

Smuggling of minerals has been growing in the State in the recent years.

A total of 322 persons were booked by the Mines Department from April 1, 2006 to January 31 this year and fine amount of Rs 3.25 crore was collected from them.

Besides, 191 vehicles used in illegal transportation of different minerals were also seized during the period.”

I hope this does not get lost in bureaucratic hassles.

Following is an excerpt from a ndtvprofit.com report.

… According to sources the company is sitting on iron ore reserves of over 500-600 mt and that could be a reason why the state may not be keen to hand over more reserves to Tata Steel.

While this could trigger a fresh round of battle between Tata Steel and the Orissa government, the later is clear that it wants investments in the state for the reserves it will hand out.

Orissa wants Tata Steel to set up the promised greenfield project of six mt steel plant in Kalinganagar in order to reach Orissa’s target of 75 mt of steel capacity by 2020.

Tata Steel in return wants iron ore mines for plans not just in Orissa but also for expansion in Jharkhand aimed at 12 mt steel plant and Jamshedpur to be expanded to 10 mt from 5 mt currently. …

The Hindu reported today that the chief representative of PRI(Posco Research Institute) has made some adverse comments on the progress of MOUs in Orissa.

Taking excerpts mentioned in the report:

“Chief Representative of PRI Chang-ho Kwag said the social infrastructure of the State was not proper to absorb mega projects. “Attitude and mindset of State Government and people towards projects need to be changed. Education of people to understand the real cost benefit of industrial project was necessary in which the state government has a big role,” Mr. Kwag said.“West Bengal can be a good example. Why is every good project taking shape in West Bengal? I think the State Government played a key role there,” he said.

Despite being a State governed by Left parties, the State adopted itself in post-liberalisation era, the PRI Director said.

All the coastal states of India showed healthy GDP growth while Orissa lagged with 3.5 per cent rate growth compared to West Bengal’s nearly 6 per cent, he said.

“The Government needs to set up service mechanism for expediting mega projects,” Mr. Kwag said. The Posco Research Institute said Chinese government had engaged two to three of its personnel for one big project so that they could take care of different processes and ensure project getting converted into reality.“

The Head of PRI must understand that Orissa is not a communist country like China. Where if requirements are provided by companies, local protests are crushed using an Iron hand and value propositions are ignored completely. Rehabilitation is a complicated process.

It is surprising to note, that , the head of PRI has mentioned that most projects are coming up in West Bengal. Do they actually think, that they would get a captive port in West bengal and also land at such cheap rates which is being provided to them in Orissa.

Also, they might actually mention which big projects are coming to West Bengal. In West Bengal land acquisition is easier since, the writ of the local communist runs in every block. Even then a Nandigram has happenned there.

Perhaps, he should see the amount if strikes that happen in West bengal. A bandh(strike) is a regular feature of life in the state. If this is considered business friendly then we have some new rules for business.

The truth of the matter is that, Orissa has been second fastest in implementation of MOUs in the country.

Let it be noted ,that , it is a combination of land and accesibility to a sea-port which makes Orissa an attractive destination.

Perhaps, the head of PRI is not aware that according to a World Bank report, Orissa is supposed to be the fastest place to start a Business among all states in India.

Perhaps, some of the statements can be reconsidered.

Update: The PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=33543 is a Rajya Sabha answer on this topic.

Following are excerpts from a Times of India report.

The Steel Authority of India (SAIL) on Wednesday unveiled plans to expand and modernise the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) with an investment of Rs 7,800 crore. RSP, which presently has a capacity of 2.2 million tonnes per annum, would be converted into a four MTPA facility by June, 2010. Its production would be further enhanced to eight MTPA by 2019-20, said company’s director (personnel and raw materials) G Ojha here. According to Ojha, RSP’s expansion is part of SAIL’s plan to invest Rs 49,000 crore in its different units and mines within the next three to three-and-half years. … Ojha said that post-expansion, SAIL’s production capacity would touch 26 MTPA of hot metal compared to its existing capacity of 14.6 MTPA. This would mean 23 MTPA of saleable steel," he informed. The company also intends to spend a substantial sum of money to improve its mining operations, including over Rs 1,100 crore in Orissa, he added. Regarding SAIL’s recent MoU with South Korean company Posco, the director said, "We want to indulge in exchange of technology and people. "We also plan collaboration in research and development activities and accordingly, an eight-member team, comprising four from each company, has been formed. This is just the beginning," he said. He allayed fears that the MoU could lead to SAIL’s privatisation and clarified that the pact was not legally enforceable and just an understanding for collaboration. … The SAIL director also reiterated the company’s interest to takeover the Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL) in Orissa’s Jajpur district and said, IDBI, as an independent valuer, has already assessed the company’s worth. "In case the stakeholders (MMTC and Orissa government) have any reservations, then we are ready for further parleys. But, ideally, the valuers version should be honoured," he said.

Following are excerpts from a report in Statesman.

… Mr Bijay Kumar Panda, head of Essar Steel Orissa highlighted the advantages of his proposed project yesterday.

Mr Panda said that the people of Nuagada, Udayabata and Bijaychandpur are keen on an early establishment of the proposed steel plant.

Barring a couple of organizations, the people at large are interested in the project and they have accepted the RR policy adopted by the company, he claimed.

Mr Panda informed that Essar Steel Orissa Ltd (ESOL), which is fully owned by Essar Steel Ltd, is going to set up a 6 million tone per annum integrated steel plant at the cost of Rs 15,000 corers.

The project would require 1900 acres of land out of which 270 acres would be government land and the rest, private. He informed that the number of displaced families have not yet been ascertained because the land survey has not been completed.

He said that the company, the government and the people had all agreed to a rate of Rs 9.50 lakh per acre as compensation and that some people had already provided their land at the said rate.

Balram Parida of Nuagada village who had given his 70 decimals land for the project said he had also requested the Essar authority to emply his son. Speaking of the project, Mr Panda informed that the technology selected will be eco –friendly and increase the iron ore reserves. He said that a beneficiation plant is located at Joda and Barbil so beneficiated ore will be transported through a slurry pipe line to Joda. Supply of iron ore through the pipe line will be cheaper too, he added.

He also informed 5500 people will be employed. The company will set up a 200 mega watt captive thermal power plant.

Meanwhile, the Paradip Krushak Manch has threatened to agitate if Essar failed to increase the compensation to Rs 25 lakh per acre.

Following is an excerpt from a Reuters report.

Officials in Orissa said on Thursday they had earmarked 7,000 acres of government and private land for a steel project proposed by Arcelor Mittal.

Last December, Arcelor Mittal, the world’s biggest steel maker, signed a multi-billion deal with the state government to build the 12 million tonne plant, and is also planning a similar sized steel unit in Jharkhand.

“We have cleared 7,000 acres of land for the steel project and captive power plant so that they can start work (aquiring land),” Orissa’s Industry Secretary Ashok Dalwai told Reuters.

He said most of the land was owned by the state but Arcelor Mittal would have to purchase some from farmers, a potentially controversial process the Orissa government would facilitate.

Hundreds of families are living on the state-owned land and would have to be moved.

The company still has to tie up a mining lease.

… The Arcelor Mittal project also includes a 750 MW power plant. The company had asked for 1,000 acres (400 hectares) on which to build homes for workers, in addition to 7,000 acres for the steel plant itself.

Supporters say the project would provide jobs for 5,500 people directly and another 15,000 indirectly.

In July, Arcelor Mittal Chief Executive Lakshmi Mittal had said that a detailed project report would be ready by mid-2008 and the first phase of the plant would be commissioned within four years of the report’s completion.

State officials said on Thursday the project would only get formal clearance once that report had been submitted.

From Arcelor-Mittal’s actions I get the feeling that they are trying to bully the Orissa government. In comparison, Vedanta has been accommodative in its land requirements for the university. But may be the bullying strategy would work for them. However, they got to be careful; if local people get more mad, and the government gets fed up with their bullying then the whole thing may fall apart.

Following are excerpts from a report in domain-B.

The Larsen & Toubro Ltd (ECC division) consortium with Italy’s Paul Wurth has been awarded a Rs1,205-crore turnkey construction contract for Bhushan Steel’s 2.5 million TPA blast furnace at its Meramandali plant in Orissa. …

L&T’s share in this project is pegged at Rs760.5 crore from this order, scheduled for completion in April 2010.

Paul Wurth’s scope covers basic engineering, supply of proprietary and special equipment and technical supervisory services while L&T’s scope covers detail engineering, supply of indigenous mechanical, electrical and instrumentation works including complete site services involving civil structural and erection works.

The project is the consortium’s third successive order for the construction of large capacity blast furnaces in the last two years, which is presently executing the 2.5 million TPA (MTPA) blast furnace on turnkey basis for Tata Steel at Jamshedpur, currently nearing completion.

Recently, the consortium bagged another order from Tata Steel for the 3.2 MTPA blast furnace at its Kalinganagar Project. In addition, it also commenced work on the 2.5 MTPA blast furnace for the public sector Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, Vishakapatnam.

Following up on the report in our previous entry, another political party, albeit with a small presence in Orissa, has come out in support of POSCO. Following is an excerpt from Pioneer.

The Samajwadi Party has lent its support to the pro-Posco villagers in their bid to cooperate with the officials for land acquisition for the company’s steel project. The party’s State president Baisnab Charan Parida, in a statement, said adequate compensation to the evacuees and their proper rehabilitation, training to the local people for employment and a thorough discussion with the supporters and opponents of Posco on development of education, health and communication facilities in the peripheral area by the company official as well as the State Government should be taken up at the earliest.

In an era of globalisation, if a country hesitates to open up its economy and decry establishment of industries by multinationals, it would remain backward, he added.

POSCO has also come up with some novel opportunities for the displaced people. Following are excerpts from a Business Standard report.

Korean major considers offering locals an export market in addition to compensation.

Korean steel giant Posco is taking a novel route to persuade land-owners to sell their land in Orissa’s Jagatsinghpur district where its Rs 52,000 crore, 12 million tonne steel plant is to be located.

Apart from monetary compensation for the land, Posco is offering the 140-odd fishermen families that will be displaced by India’s largest greenfield steel plant an assured market for dried fish and mango pickle in South Korea.

The company, which has been facing stiff resistance from locals who will lose land to the project, proposes to train fishermen in the area to produce the dried fish coveted by Koreans, according to a Posco India spokesman.

“Around 160 families in the periphery have shown interest and will be included in the programme,” he said. He said some 160 families on the periphery of the project had accepted the proposal.

A similar programme is being planned for betel vine cultivators. “They have shown interest in fruit, especially mangoes. We will get pickle manufacturers to collaborate with them and export these products to South Korea,” he added.

A socio economic survey, which is still being conducted, indicates that there are around 50 betel vine owners and 1,000 cultivators for 1,200 betel vines. “Not just the owners, the cultivators will also be included in the programme,” he said.

The plan has been suggested as a solution to the vexed problem of compensating land-losers by offering them sustainable livelihood. At the same time, it will meet a growing demand for dried fish and pickle in Korea. According to reports, Korea’s imports are expected to exceed exports due to depletion of fish resources. Its pickle demand is primarily met by China.

…“The products developed by the fishermen and betel vine cultivators will be exported to Korea through Posco’s captive port. After meeting the demand in the Korean market, they can be exported to South East Asia,” the spokesman said.

Posco India is currently in the last leg of its land-acquisition programme. Of the required land of 4,004 acres, the Orissa government is to provide 3,566 acres (of which it is yet to get possession). The company will have to buy the remaining 438 acres of land directly from land-owners.

The rehabilitation & periphery development advisory committee (RPDAC) is expected to meet shortly to decide on the compensation package. The committee comprises representatives from the government, the company and the local people.

The private land covers three gram panchayats — Gada Kujanga, Muagaon and Dhinkia, the latter being the largest tract covering 200 acres and has been the most aggressive in leading an agitation against Posco’s steel plant.

However, the Posco spokesman said, things have improved and the survey indicated that around 90 per cent of the people wanted to shift to other means of livelihood.

Following is a report from Samaja on this. This is what more legislators of the area should be doing, but without fighting among themselves.

See http://tathya.in/story.asp?sno=1185.

In the following wikimapia map the location is either to the right or left of the spot labeled as "Patna."

Following are excerpts from a Telegraph report.

The Indian company, which became the sixth largest steel maker after buying Corus of the UK in January, plans to start construction work on its proposed 6-million-tonne integrated steel plant at Kalinganagar in November. …

Problems over land acquisition and mining leases have slowed progress on the Tata and Posco projects. Mittal’s Jharkhand project is facing the same predicament.

Tata Steel managing director B. Muthuraman, who met chief minister Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneswar on Thursday evening, said the company had sought mining leases for iron ore and expected to get them soon. Corus chief executive officer Philippe Varin accompanied Muthuraman.

The challenge before Tata Steel is now to relocate the families living on the land where the plant will come up. So far 620 of 1,200 families have been shifted. Tata Steel will start construction once another 200 families are relocated.

Varin said Corus and Tata Steel would be working together to set up the Kalinganagar plant and the best technology would be used. The first phase would call for Rs 6,000-crore investment, while the total project would cost Rs 15,000 crore.

The company was allocated 2,000 acres for the plant at Kalinganagar. The Orissa government is to recommend Tata Steel’s case for a mining lease after 25 per cent of the order for the plant and machinery is placed. Sources said the company had started placing orders worth Rs 4,500 crore for a blast furnace, sinter plant and coke oven unit.

The company wants iron ore mining leases at Mankadanacha and Baliapal to be restored. They were scrapped after the company failed to set up a steel plant in Gopalpur in the nineties.

State steel and mines secretary U. P. Singh said the government would consider Tata Steel’s application for mining lease according to procedures. …

The Orissa plant is a building block for Tata Steel’s integration with Corus. It will make primary steel here which will be sent to Corus’s west European finishing mills.

Economic Times reported that

Larsen & Toubro, the country’s biggest engineering firm, will invest around Rs 400 crore in its proposed three million tonne alumina refinery joint venture with Dubai Aluminium Company (Dubal) in Orissa. It further said that "The total project cost would be Rs 15,000 crore. L&T would do the engineering, procurement and construction job for the project, which would cost around Rs 5,000 crore. The first phase of the plant at Rayagada with 1.5 million tons capacity is scheduled to be operational by 2010. In another similar report Zee News reported that Dubal will have the majority 74 per cent stake in the venture and the remaining 26 per cent will be with L&T.

Follow are excerpts from a Statesman report.

The high powered committee headed by chief secretary Mr Ajit Tripathy today cleared 16 investment proposals, entailing an investment of approximately Rs 30,000 crore.

The projects mainly in the power, steel, aluminium and cement sectors were amongst the 40 project proposals placed before the committee. There were three steel and three power projects amongst the 16 which got the nod today.

Significantly while the Ashapura mines chemicals project proposal for a aluminium refinery was approved, the aluminium project of IMFA Group headed by Dr Bansidhar Panda was held up.

… two task forces had been constituted to further evaluate the proposals in the cement and power sectors. The Industry secretary will head the task force for cement sector projects while the development commissioner will be in charge of the task force for power projects, …

The power projects cleared by the committee today included the Bhusan Energy project which intends to establish a 2,000 MW thermal power plant at Angul with an investment of Rs 8,483 crore. The Visa Power Limited’s 1,000 mw Thermal Power plant at Brhamnabasta in Cuttack district at a cost of Rs 3,698 crore was also cleared while the third power project was of Monnet Energy at Sundergarh. It will be a 1,000 mw plant.

The Rs 4,232 crore aluminium project of Ashpura Mines Chemicals to come up in Koraput district was cleared. It aims at setting up a 5 lakh ton refinery and a 1.5 lakh ton smelter plant besides having a 300 MW captive power plant .

The Committee approved the three new steel plant projects and the expansion of existing five steel projects in the state.

Bonei Industry company’s project to set up a plant at Sundergarh at a cost of Rs 302 crore, M/s Rungta Sons Ltd’s proposal to set up a steel plant at Barmunda at a cost of Rs 930 crore and Free Grade company Ltd’s steel plant at Dhenkanal at a cost of Rs 603 crore were also cleared.

Expansion proposals of SMC Power Generation and MSP Mettalics at Jharsuguda, Braja Ispat, Rourkela and the Keonjhar Orient Ispat were given the go ahead by the committee.

ACC Cement’s proposal for investment of Rs 400 crore for its capacity development was approved while Goa Carbons Ltd’s proposal for a CPC coke plant with an investment of Rs 225 crore was also cleared.

Following are excerpts from a report in english.chosun.com.

… After a rough start, POSCO is expected to finally have a site allocated for a planned steel mill in India, while an investment in a new Vietnam steel mill is likely to move ahead in October.

According to POSCO on Wednesday, the Indian government recently made it known that they plan to determine whether to give environmental clearance for the 4,004 acre site in Paradip in the province of Orissa.

Some 3,566 acres or 89.1 percent of the site of the planned one-stop steel system belongs to the government. Of that, 3,097 acres (86.9 percent) is forest land. For now, POSCO has only secured 193 acres (4.8 percent).

A POSCO official said, "The final decision has not yet been made, but we heard that the site might be released from the forest zone soon. The state-owned land accounts for nearly 90 percent of our site. In other words, if the area is released from the forest zone, the biggest obstacle to our effort to secure the site disappears."