Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, August 22: A tripartite meeting between the Centre, the Orissa government and Posco scheduled to be held in New Delhi August 25 is expected to clear the air over speculations about the possible grounding of the proposed mega steel plant in the state.
“To clarify the future course of the South Korean steel major Posco’s project in Jagatsighpur district, a meeting will be held in New Delhi under the chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha August 25,” said steel and mines minister Prafulla Mallik Saturday.
Chief Secretary GC Pati and steel and mines secretary RK Sharma will represent the state government at the meeting while the Union steel and mines secretary will also attend the meet, said Mallik. Posco’s senior decision-making officials will also attend the meeting, the minister informed.
On the state government’s likely stand on the allocation of mines to the firm, Mallik said, “We are ready to provide all support for functioning of the country’s biggest FDI project that is in our state. As far as raw materials are concerned, we will ensure the company gets long-term raw material linkage through the state-run Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC).”
Since Posco has been eying the Khandadhar mining hill, the state government plans to reserve the mine for OMC so that it is not put on auction and the raw material goes to the company, sources said.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in New Delhi earlier in the day, Union steel and mines minister Narendra Singh Tomar once again clarified that Posco would have to bid for mines for its proposed Orissa project.
“When the NDA government came to power, we saw that the MoU signed for the plant was not renewed. We had asked the state government to notify the area (mining) and send it back to us so that we could think of acting on it,” Tomar said.
Tomar further said that the Centre had already put the amended MMDR Act draft on the ministry’s website when the file came back to the ministry and so it was not possible for the Centre to act on the Posco issue. “We welcome the company to participate in the mining auction and in value addition,” he added.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had asked the Chief Secretary Thursday to fix a date with the Centre for a review of the Posco project in presence of the company officials.
Notably, the steel major had signed an agreement with Uttam Steel and Power to do a feasibility study to set up a 3 million tonne per annum (MTPA) integrated steel plant in Maharashtra. This development led to speculations that Posco might no longer be interested in the Orissa project.
