Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, July 17: With reports coming in that Posco has decided to ‘freeze’ its `52,000 crore steel plant project in the state, steel and mines minister Prafulla Kumar Mallick said the state government is still hopeful that the mega steel project would be set up in the state.
“We are hopeful about Posco’s steel plant in the state,” Mallick told reporters Friday. “The company has not informed us anything about holding up its project in the state,” he added.
“The state government has already made its views clear regarding Posco and has always extended support for setting up of the steel plant in the state,” the minister said.
He further said the state has not witnessed any hurdles in the process of growth in industrialisation and of the 49 MoUs signed with various companies, 32 have already been executed.
Earlier, industries minister Debi Prasad Mishra had also stated that the state government did not get any confirmation from Posco over the future of its project in the state.
The issue gained thrust in the backdrop of reports that stated the steel major has decided to put its mega steel project in Jagatsinghpur district on hold.
Sources revealed that Posco-India has even written to the Orissa Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) saying it would vacate its offices on the fifth floor of Fortune Towers in Bhubaneswar.
The Korean Herald meanwhile reported that Posco chairman Kwon Oh-joon had said at an investor relations meet Wednesday that the company has “decided to tentatively stop the project as we have not seen visible progress”.
