MoEF Panel To Submit Report For POSCO Project

POSCO, one of the world’s largest steel producing companies, has been fighting with the government and farmers of Odhisa to set up 12 MTPA of steel plant. In a move, the government (National Green Tribunal) in June 2011 stopped the process of land acquisition for Posco’s steel project following a strong protest by the villagers and the Left party leaders. It also said that the Ministry of Environment (MoEF) had allowed the steel maker to go ahead with its proposed 12 million tonne per annum (MTPA) plant based on an environment impact assessment report on the basis of 4 MTPA capacity plan.

And after witnessing a strong protest from the villagers and from the tribunal, Posco decided to cut its plant capacity from 12 to 8 MTPA. The company subsequently scaled down land requirement for the project from the originally estimated 4,000 acre to around 2,700 acre. The government has already acquired 2,000 acre of land and Posco has asked for 700 more acre in order to start the work at the project.

And in a latest move to acquire the rest of the land requirement, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) constituted a four-member expert team who visited the proposed Posco steel plant site in Jagatsinghpur district on Tuesday. The team discussed with local people about different aspects of the country's biggest FDI. It is Expected to submit the report to the ministry on environmental implications of the USD 12 billion steel plant by October.

Posco is also facing problems over acquiring captive iron ore mines required for its steel plant. The case is pending after a party in the case had applied for a 200 million tonne reserve of ore at Khandadhar, Sundergarh district, filed fourteen years earlier, which overlaps with the site of Posco’s plant. As per the regulations, unless the area is notified, applications must be taken in hand on a first-come-first-serve basis, all other merit criteria being equal.

The case is currently with the apex court and it will again start the hearing the grant of captive iron ore mine in Odhisa. Posco is hoping that the apex court will clear the grant of a captive iron ore mine for its proposed steel plant.