Tripartite meeting on Posco issue on August 25

Meeting will seek to clarify South Korean steel major's stand on its $12 bn steel project in Odisha

A tripartite meeting would be convened on Tuesday that would clarify the stand of South Korean steel major Posco on setting up of its $12 billion steel plant in Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha. “The meeting on the Posco issue will be attended by the Cabinet secretary, state government (representatives), and officials of the steel company. The chief secretary and mines secretary will represent the state government,” said Prafulla Mallick, state steel and mines minister.

“We are ready to take all steps under the ambit of law to facilitate Posco to set up the plant. The state government has already assured the company of long-term raw material linkage through Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC). The company should clear its stand in the meeting,” he added.

Recently, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had asked Chief Secretary GC Pati to write to the Prime Minister's Office or the Cabinet secretary to discuss the issues relating to the Posco project.



The move by the state government came after the South Korean company announced temporary freezing of the project.



Recently, the chief secretary had written to the Cabinet secretary pressing for a review of the Posco project by the central government at the level of Cabinet secretariat or the PMO for sorting out the issues relating to the project expeditiously. “You would agree that the commitments made to Posco have international implications. This is an important project in the context of ‘Make in India’ campaign and deserves to be accorded utmost priority. The Odisha government is keen to provide all support to ensure that the project is implemented without any further delay,” Pati had said in the letter.

The chief secretary said the state government had not received any formal communication from Posco on its decision to temporarily freeze the project. He, however, had pointed out the proposed investment is linked with the availability of raw material.

Posco has been dragging its feet over the 12 million tonne steel plant in Odisha ever since the new MMDR Act made it incumbent on the company to participate in the auction process to get captive iron ore mine, ruling out the possibility of preferential allotment of mines as it desired.

"It may be recalled that the state government had recommended the application of the company for grant of prospecting licence (PL) for the Khandadhar iron ore mines on January 9, 2009, Though the state followed up the proposal with the Government of India and furnished all clarifications as sought, the approval of the Centre for the grant of PL was not accorded", he had said.

The South Korean company, which had signed a MoU with the Odisha government in 2005, could not go ahead with the proposed project even after 10 years. Issues relating to land acquisition, raw material linkage, environment and forest clearances and legal hurdles caused inordinate delay in setting up the project.