Mittal to decide on Orissa plant by Oct

Joint working group formed for smooth implementation of the project.

Arcelor-Mittal, which proposes to set up a 12 million tonne steel plant in Orissa at an estimated cost of Rs 40, 000 crore, will take a final decision on the site of its proposed venture by October-end.

The company has entrusted the job of selecting the site for the project to Ranchi-based Mecon.

"The consultants will start surveying the shortlisted sites in September and submit their report after eight weeks," Sanak Mishra, CEO of Arcelor-Mittal's India operation, told media persons after a meeting with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Soon after L N Mittal's visit to Orissa early last month, the state government had offered seven sites in four districts, Keonjhar, Ganjam, Bhadrak and Balasore, for the project to the firm.

After a preliminary assessment by the company, four locations were shortlisted. These are Patna in Keonjhar, Khallikote in Ganjam, Basudevpur in Bhadrakh and Balgopalpur in Balasore district.

"One of these four sites will be finalised after a detailed and comparative study by Mecon," Mishra said.

During an earlier visit to the state last month, Mishra had said the firm will prefer to locate its venture close to the port.

Of the four shortlisted sites three are near the sea. However, the advantage of the fourth, Patna in Keonjhar, is that it is close to iron ore mines.

Arcelor-Mittal has already announced that if everything goes well, the company will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Orissa government for the mega project by the year-end.

The Orissa government has reconstituted the joint working group, formed for the smooth implementation of the project, by inducting three members nominated by the Mittals.

According to official sources, the three Mittal nominees are the chief executive officer of Mittal Steel's India operations, Sanak Mishra, the director for continuous improvement of Mittal Steel Company, Bill Scoting, and the director of mining at Mittal Steel Company, M P Singh.

The Orissa chief secretary, Subas Pani, will function as the chairman of the joint working group with secretary, steel and mines, secretary, commerce and transport department, the managing directors of the state-owned public sector undertakings, Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation and Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation, as members from the government's side.

Formation of a joint working group for the project was mooted during L N Mittal's meeting with the CM last month.