Mittal Steel, Orissa to ink MoU for 12 mt plant

The LN Mittal-owned Arcelor-Mittal, the largest producer of steel in the world, is set to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Orissa government for its proposed 12 million tonne steel plant this week.

The project will be set up in phases of 6 million tonne each. Of the total estimated cost of Rs 40,000 crore, the first phase, which also envisages setting up of a 750 mw captive power plant, will cost Rs 22,000 crore.

The company, meanwhile, has selected Patna tehsil in Keonjhar district to locate its plant. It had engaged Mecon to do a detail study of the seven sites short-listed for the purpose and suggest the most appropriate site for the plant.

The company has asked for 8,000 acre of land at the proposed location. This included 6,000 acre for the plant, 1,000 acre for the power plant and 1,000 acre for the township. However, the exact requirement of land will be known after the submission of detail project report (DPR), sources said. They said, the plant will draw water from river Baitarani, which is on one side of the site with the other side is being hedged by National Highway No 6.

The project will be assured of raw material linkage to the tune of 600 million tonne, the same as the requirement of Posco, over 30 years period. However, unlike the Posco project, the MoU with Mittal will not contain any controversial clause with regard to swapping of ore or captive port, sources added.

The joint working group comprising officials of Mittal Steel India Ltd and the Orissa government gave a final shape to the project proposal at a meeting here on Saturday. The proposal will be put before the state industry department's single window cell tomorrow before being endorsed by the high level project clearance committee around middle of this week.

Mittal Steel has taken up 12,500 sq ft floor space in the Fortune Tower, a swanky office complex built by Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa (Idco) for opening its Orissa project office.