POSCO Wins Approval for India Project
By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
POSCO, the world's fourth-largest steel maker, won a key approval from India's highest court to start its much delayed $12 billion mega steel plant project in the minerals-rich state of Orissa.
Land disputes, mining permits and protests by local farmers and environmental groups have stalled the venture since POSCO initiated the project in 2005. Although the initiative is estimated to create 18,000 jobs, it drew a backlash from farmers who are against losing their land.
``The latest forest diversion clearance removed the most difficult hurdle for us,'' Cho Soung-sik, managing director of POSCO-India, told Yonhap News Friday. He added that groundbreaking would soon take place to start construction on the 4,000 acres (1,600 hectares) of land.
POSCO will initially build a 4 million metric ton steel plant and set up a 400-megawatt power plant.
The company said it would expedite the land acquisition process by cooperating with local people and the Orissa government.
Of the total stretch of land, about 3,000 acres is categorized as forestland. The clearance is expected to ease handing over the government-owned land to POSCO.
The Korean steel giant has plans to build an integrated steel mill in the eastern coastal state with an output of 12 million metric tons a year. This is the single largest foreign direct investment in India, which has consistently been supporting POSCO's investment plans.
POSCO's India mill is a part of the steel group's aggressive foreign investment projects in Vietnam, Mexico and Thailand.