Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, May 12: Amid speculation of an imminent pullout by South Korean steel major Posco, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Tuesday said he doesn’t think that the South Korean company has taken any such decision.
“I don’t think so. Our government has tried very hard to see that the Posco project is set up in the state,” Patnaik said here after returning from a week-long tour to Delhi.
Posco is yet to deposit Rs 73 crore with the state government for the land it has acquired for its proposed plant at Paradip, fueling speculation that it may withdraw from setting up its project in the state.
Sources said, the company in turn has asked the government to hand over the bills and vouchers for Rs 30 crore which it had given the government towards land acquisition.
Posco India had entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state government in June 2005 for putting up a 12 million tonne per annum (MTPA) steel plant near Paradip at a cost of $12 billion.
The project needs 4,004 acres in all. Due to several hurdles, the company redesigned the project, planning to set up an eight MTPA plant in the first phase for which it needed 2,700 acres of land.
Of this, it was given advance possession of 1,703.56 acres 15 months back. Sources further revealed that the steel firm has shown no interest to take possession of the remaining 1,000 acres.
It has also withdrawn from the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for the Haridaspur-Paradip railway line project and asked the railway authorities for the refund of around Rs 27 crore it had paid for the railway land acquisition.
