___________

Pioneer reports that Ersama MLA and former Minister Damodar Rout on Sunday has initiated a joint political move in favour of the Posco project proposed near Paradip in his constituency.

Excerpts

“Under no particular party’s banner, political leaders met in Jagatsinghpur to chart out a strategy for a show of strength with a slogan Aage maati pare party, literally meaning land first, party later. Presiding over the meeting, Rout harped on the fact that 85 per cent people in Kujang tehsil, where the South Korean steel major wants to set up its greenfield project, were supporting the 12-million-tonne per annum plant. As they are not united, their voice is cowed down by a handful of agitators. Rout sought to prove the point that the anti-Posco brigade was a minority group making tall claims. It was decided to organise a mass meeting on Tuesday at Balitutha, which leaders cutting across party lines would address. Rout’s move follows Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s instructions to him to extend his support for the Posco project in his constituency.

Rout, in his turn, has asked the Jagatsinghpur district authorities to help in smooth conduct of the Tuesday meeting, to which Collector Pramod Kumar Mehrada and SP RP Singh have reportedly agreed.

More than 60 representatives from various political parties participated in the deliberations on Sunday. A few of them suggested to organise the mass meeting at a later stage, but Rout said, “Strike the iron when it is hot.”

A section of political observers, however, feels that there may be a scuffle between the anti- and pro-Posco supporters on the day”

Update: Livemint has a more succinct report.

The court suggested that VAL’s holding company, Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd, file an affidavit with three undertakings:

• commit to pay Rs50 crore as a security deposit to the court;
• agree to pay 5% of the net profit accruing from all its mining activities or Rs10 crore, whichever was greater, towards tribal development and environmental safeguards; and
• present a report on employment opportunities that the project would generate.

Following is an excerpt from a Reuter’s report on this.

The Supreme Court set new conditions on Britain’s Vedanta Resources Plc and its Indian unit on Friday before allowing it to mine bauxite in sacred, forested hills in the east of the country.

Vedanta wants to dig open-cast mines in the Niyamgiri hills in Orissa to feed an alumina refinery it has already built in the area, as part of an $800 million project expected initially to produce 1 million tonnes of alumina per year.

At an earlier hearing, Vedanta had promised to invest 1.12 billion rupees ($28.4 million) to develop the poor region, but a three-judge bench said it wanted this commitment to be made by the firm’s Indian unit, Sterlite Industries Ltd.

“What is Vedanta?,” the bench said. “Vedanta is not listed in India. So let Sterlite give an undertaking.”

Thousands of tribal people say the mine will destroy hills they consider sacred, force them from their homes and destroy their livelihoods, which are based on farming millet, hunting and collecting fruits and spices from the forests.

Environmentalists say the open-cast mine would also wreck the rich biodiversity of the remote hills and disrupt key water sources that supply springs and streams in the area and feed two rivers that irrigate large areas of farmland.

The court asked Sterlite to pay five percent of its annual profits from mining throughout India to the state government to be ploughed into developing the region.

It also asked the company to deposit 500 million rupees ($12.7 million) with the state government, and specify how many local people would be employed in the project.

When Sterlite objected to the conditions, the court adjourned the case until the company made a formal response.

The state and central government both back the plan, as part of efforts to industrialise and exploit the mineral resources of underdeveloped eastern India.

The Environment Ministry told the Supreme Court earlier this month that the mining would only affect a marginal amount of forest land.

It also promised “special efforts” would be made to manage and conserve wildlife in the area, which is part of an elephant corridor, shelters leopards and is the only known home in Orissa of the rare golden gecko.

If the state government and central government back this plan then they should require this from all mining companies in India not just Sterlite. It would be an excellent move.

Daily Pioneer reporter Kahnu Nanda reports that situation is turning in favour of POSCO in the Kujang Block. The Article is reproduced below:

“Days after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik asserted that the mega greenfield steel plant by South Korean steel major Posco will be established at Kujang and that construction work would start from April 1, 2008, Posco has reiterated its commitment to the project.

An overwhelming section of people living in the proposed project site areas, including representatives of several political parties, social activists and local senior citizens, are moving fast to garner support for the project’s implementation.

Reports indicate that several meetings and campaigning has been held in project site at village level in the past week in a bid to woo the locals in the project’s favour.

Different project sympathisers have been organising these pro-Posco meetings and Ersama MLA and former Minister Damodar Rout has proposed to organise a mass public meeting in Balitutha Hat on October 27 just at a stone’s throw distance from the project opponents’ road block over Balitutha Bridge since September 24.

Sources said that a pro- Posco meeting was organised under the leadership of former PS member Jiban Lal Behera and the meeting was attended by most of habitants and discussed the Posco issues at length.

The senior villagers, attending the meeting too opined setting up of the project and unanimously resolve requesting the Posco authorities to reopen its closed Kujang office immediately.

Meanwhile, Ranjan Das a social activist and native of Polang, an affected village for the project, arranged a meeting in village on Tuesday in a move to garner support for Posco.

The Chief Minister’s endeavours to have a dialogue with project opposition groups had described a salutary effort while the villagers emphasised that the Posco authorities need to directly interact with the affected people for land acquisitions, Askhya Das, a villager revealed.

The political atmosphere in the project sites of Gadakujang, Dhinkia, Nuagaon, Chatua, Balitutha and Bamadeipur villages saw a startling incident on Tuesday when one Dhruba Charana Muduli, a social activist had called an all party meeting in Gadakujanga to discuss the Posco stalemate.

The meeting was attended by most of the members of different political parties of the locality excluding Leftists.

In the meeting a decision was taken to form an all party co ordination committee taking members from different political parties to hold dialogue with the State Government, the district administration and the Posco authorities to sort out the project obstacles, informed a member of a major political party.

Meanwhile, sources said that a similar type of meeting had been organised in Govindpur village under the leadership of Nirvay Samantray and project sympathiser Tamil Pradhan had conducted a meting in his Nuagaon village on Wednesday.

However, reports said that most of Posco supported leaders at the proposed project site villages have been organising meetings and campaigning to bring a pro attitude since the Chief Minister and Posco agreed for the project inception last week.

Ersama legislator Damodar Rout ,who was keeping distance from Posco related issues earlier has started organising mass contact campaigning with a message against anti -Posco sentiments in project site villages.

However, Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) who is spearheading the anti-Posco movement since one year vowed to oppose the project tooth to nail and refused to act on the Chief Minister’s desire of a dialogue.

According to them the project would wipe out 11 villages and affect around 20,000 habitants therefore no industry should not be set up at the cost of agricultural lands that threatens to take away the livelihood of people.

Abhaya Sahoo, PPSS chairman slammed the State Government for being insensible towards the affected locals, and also threatened of not giving one inch of land for the Posco project. He blamed the local leaders for organising pro Posco meetings in their areas under the influence and getting financial supports from Posco.”

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.

Rediff reports that the new SEZ policy has been announced by the Govt.

Excerpts”

The National Policy on Rehabilitation and Resettlement, 2007, which was cleared at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, provides for land-for-land compensation, besides preference to affected families for jobs in projects coming up on their plots.”“The new policy seeks to make those entitled for compensation stakeholders in development by allowing them to take up to 20 per cent of the amount in the form of shares if the acquiring entity is authorised to issue these instruments.

“With prior approval of the government, this proportion can be as high as 50 per cent of the rehabilitation grant and compensation amount,” the Rural Development Ministry said.

The policy discourages speculative transactions of land acquired for public purposes. As a relief for developers, 30 per cent land can be compulsorily acquired by states for the promoters while the rest has to be bought by them.”

Reliance has welcomed this policy. It remains to be seen what implications this has on POSCO which wants SEZ status for it’s project.

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 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 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 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."

Following are some excerpts from a PTI report in Economic Times.

Setting at rest speculation on the fate of its Rs 52,000 crore steel project, South Korean giant Posco has decided to begin construction work on the 12 million tonne plant in Orissa by October.

“We will begin construction work of our 12 MT project in Orissa’s Jagatsinghpur district by October on whatever land we have acquired so far,” Posco India Chairman and Managing Director Soung Sik Cho said. …

“We believe things have undergone a sea-change during the last few months. People are clearly convinced that they will benefit from the project. Now they have a better understanding of the entire situation,” he reasoned.

Posco was also enthused after the union government gave environmental approval to the project. Moreover, the Naveen Patnaik government in Orissa has been asked by the Centre to take the mega investment process forward.

“Actually things are now looking much brighter. We have also received the official nod for our captive port project at Jatadhari, which has also encouraged us,” Cho pointed out.

The Korean steel giant has decided to begin construction work initially on 400 acres of non-forest land, and then on the revenue land to be given to it by the Orissa government.

“Now the only issue remains to be resolved is granting captive iron ore mines to us. But here also I believe things are moving in the right direction,” Cho said.

Following are excerpts from a Sambada report.

The Hindu reports that environmental clearance has been granted to POSCO steel plant. POSCO has earmarked 1,525 crores for environmental pollution control as per the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) as well as the state government conditions. Excerpts:

“The Ministry of Environment and Forests has given the environmental clearance for Posco’s mega steel project at Kujang near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa,” highly-placed official sources said.The Korean steel giant had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Orissa government in June 2005 pledging an investment of Rs 52,000 crore for setting up the plant.

“The project authorities shall utilise Rs 1,525 crore earmarked for environmental pollution control measures judiciously to implement the conditions stipulated by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) as well as the state government. The funds so provided shall not be diverted for any other purpose,” a source quoted the Environment and Forests Ministry as saying, while granting clearance.

The clearance has been granted to the world’s third largest steel manufacturer for installing furnaces using FINEX technology only and on the condition that gaseous emissions from its various units should strictly conform to load/mass based standards notified by the government.

Earlier in April, the MOEF had granted its approval under Coastal Regulation Zone to the Korean steel giant’s proposal to set up a captive port at Jatadhari at a cost of Rs 17,113 crore.”

Hindustan Times and others report on this. Following are some excerpts from the Hindustan Times report.

Steel baron Lakshmi Mittal’s global giant Arcelor Mittal is planning to advance the construction at its 10 million tonnes (MT) Orissa plant and hopes to begin initial construction by mid-2008, as against the earlier date of 2009. …

The first phase of Arcelor Mittal’s plant in Orissa, with a capacity of six million tonnes, is likely to be commissioned by 2011.

The company has appointed Dastur & Co to carry out a detailed project report and environment management plan for the two sites, which are currently underway. Chief Executive Officer of Mittal Steel India Ltd, Sanak Mishra, said that major construction work in the site will be taken up in 2009 and the company has finalised the product mix of the proposed plant for both long and flat products.

Business standard reports that some of the betel cultivators have accepted POSCO’s compensation for these Betel farms.

Also, It must be noted, that these Betel cultivation was being done in Govt. enroached land. Currently out of 4004 acres required by POSCO, 3567 acres is Govt. land and 438 acres is pvt. land.

Excerpts:

In a major breakthrough in the imbroglio over land acquisition for Posco’s 12-million-tonne steel project near Paradip in Orissa, betel cultivators at Nuagaon village, within the project site, have dismantled their vineyards in lieu of compensation.

According to sources, four betel farm owners have accepted compensation to the tune of Rs 4.8 lakh, while 20 more who had surrendered their claim on betel vineyards are expected to be paid around Rs 15 lakh in a couple of days.

The farmers are being paid according to the rate fixed by the state government. Company sources said they had received about 200 applications from local farmers for payment of compensation for the surrender of their claim.

These were being verified and would be cleared in a phased manner, they added.

It may be noted that betel leaves are mostly cultivated over encroached government land in the proposed Posco plant area. There are about 1,600 betel farms in Nuagaon alone.

Posco required for its plant 4004 acres of land in three grampanchayats, namely Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gada Kujanga. Of this, 3567 acres is government land and 437 acres is private land. Most of the government land, however, is encroached upon by betel cultivators.

It may be noted that about 3,000 people working at the betel farms in Gadakujanga, Dhinkia and Nuagaon are among the most vocal opponents of the project as they fear loss of employment.

They have become soft targets for anti-Posco agitators. Keeping this in mind, the state government is framing a separate package for these workers, in addition to the existing rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) policy formulated last year.

According to state Chief Secretary Ajit Tripathy, the stalemate over land acquisition is gradually giving way and people in the site area are coming out in support of the project.

Economic times reports that Mittal is more postive of the progress in Orissa for it’s steel plant.

Excerpts”

BHUBANESWAR: Arcelor-Mittal group CEO L N Mittal expressed his preference for the company’s proposed mega steel plant in Orissa over the one planned in Jharkhand, even as the Orissa government committed itself to provide requisite land and raw material for the greenfield project.If things go as planned, Mittal even indicated to CM Naveen Patnaik and senior government functionaries that the world’s largest steel company is keen to start leg work in January 2008.

“We are very happy with the pace of progress in Orissa. We would certainly prefer Orissa to Jharkhand considering the progress,” Mittal said, emerging from a 150-minute meeting with the CM and his team.

“We are all working hard towards starting the project as fast as possible,” he told reporters, without mentioning any deadline. The steel moghul said he was “very happy” with the way things have moved ever since the company signed an MoU with the state government in December 2006 for a 12 million tonne per annum steel plant in Keonjhar district.

“The Dastur co is preparing the detailed project report and it should be ready by mid-2008,” he said.

On the mines linkage, Mittal, who was accompanied by his son Aditya and Mittal-India CEO Sanak Mishra, said after the “very detailed discussions” with the CM, he was “very confident” about getting required access to mines. He added that he was “very optimistic” about effectively tackling rehabilitation and resettlement issues.

According to official sources, the steel monarch requested the state government to acquire at least a part of the 8,000-acre land earmarked for the project, especially the encroachment-free government land, so that the company could begin some “work on the ground early next year”. Mittal, the sources said, sought to know about the mining linkage and the government assured him full support without committing any specific mines.

In the last two days couple of press releases have come out from the Minister of Steel, Chemicals and Fertilizers, Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan. The first one assures POSCO of all help and the second one assures Laxmi Mittal about his support for ore linkages for his proposed steel plants in Jharkhand and Orissa.

Equitybulls.com reports on this. Following are some excerpts.

Hindustan Dorr Oliver Ltd has announced that the Company has got an order from Vedanta Alumina Ltd valuing Rs 300 millions for Complete In-plant water circulation and distribution piping system and compressed air piping with accessories for their 5 million ton per annum Aluminium Smelter Plant at Jharsuguda, Orissa. Execution of the said project shall be completed by December, 2007.

The Company is already working alongwith its Chinese partner Chaileco in the above Jharsuguda refinery for a Fume Extraction Plant valuing Rs 2100 million.

Kalingatimes reports that Posco is definitely interested in the Orissa project.
Excerpts of the Article below

… The latest statement from the authorities of POSCO-India makes it clear that they were here to stay – to pursue their 12 million tonne per annum capacity steel mill project in Jagatsinghpur district.

…, the company has said in a statement that it was `confident, determined and committed’ to make its Orissa steel project happen. …

But the company has said that as per its human resource plan, overseas staff deployment in POSCO-India project was purely need based.

“Staff deployment is in relation to specific assignments and the employee moves with the changes in assignment. Accordingly, when the construction phase begins, there would be reallocation of staff from overseas in large number,” a statement from the company said.

Although there had been undue delay in the implementation of the project due to non-acquisition of land for the proposed steel plant, the company has announced it was hopeful of starting ground leveling work by December this year.

“The company is further encouraged by the support extended by Government of Orissa as well as Government of India for expediting the project,’ the statement said.

“Going by the recent developments, the company is happy to note that there is a greater understanding and wider consensus in favor of the project building up at all levels, notably among people in the project site.” …

If official sources are to be believed, … POSCO authorities were ready to wait for several more years to implement the project.

“The main worry of POSCO-India authorities would be over the day they were granted prospecting licence for the Khandadhar iron ore mines by the Central government.

As regards the people’s opposition to displacement by the proposed steel plant in Jagatsinghpur as well as the move to grant of prospecting licence to the company for Khandadhar mines, sources said that POSCO was used to such resistance.

“They are hopeful that things will slowly start changing and the opposition will lose strength in due course,” a senior government official observed.

Rehabilitation process begins

Meanwhile, the company, in association with the district administration, has started the process for rehabilitating 48 families that had left Patna village under Dhinkia panchayat of Jagatsinghpur following their differences with those who were against the setting up of the steel plant in their locality.

The company was hopeful that a transit camp for the 48 families would come up within four weeks. Simultaneously, efforts were being made to select a site for constructing a full-fledged rehabilitation colony for these families.

A company official said that once the habilitation colony was set up it would attract people from the camp that was opposed to the project.

The families which had come out of their villages on their own and were supporting the project would be given rehabilitation benefits under the provisions of the existing Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy of the State.

Going by the company’s stand, it appears clear that they might start thinking in terms of packing their bags only if the both the Central Government and the State Government expressed their unwillingness to extend help. But going by the eagerness on the part of both the governments to help POSCO-India, such a situation was unlikely to emerge in the next few years. After all, POSCO-India’s steel project still continues to carry the tag of biggest ever foreign direct investment in the country.

This sounds like a good reinforcement of it’s commitment to the Orissa project.

Business standard reports on government of Orissa and POSCO’s plans regarding R & R and compensation. Following are some excerpts.

… The government is also working on improving the compensation package for the area’s beetle-vine workers, who are among the most vocal opponents of the project as they fear loss of livelihood.

A joint exercise will be started soon for implementing the rehabilitation package. We will sit with Posco executives to decide what best can be offered to the displaced, in excess of the entitlements prescribed by the government’s rehabilitation policy and the package prepared by the company, …

The proposals which are being examined include a pension scheme for the displaced persons and a job card for all the displaced who are less than 60 years in age.

Market watch reports that POSCO expects to complete land acquisition by year end for it’s Orissa steel plant. Following is an excerpt.

‘Lee also said Posco expects to be able to secure all necessary land for its planned 12 million ton-a-year plant in Orissa, India, by the end of 2007, with construction projected to start in the first half of next year.
Posco is set to invest $12 billion to complete the plant by 2016. Orissa’s state government has so far allocated 1,135 acres of land to Posco, which has requested 4,000 acres. ‘

Other news to be seen is that it has had massive profits due to improved cost-savings from FINEX technology.