"BHP Billiton will not be a part of the 12 million tonne steel project's feasibility study and we would conduct it. The decision was based on an earlier decision taken by our board," Pohang Steel company sources said.
Though the company denied having hired any consultancy firm for assisting in the study, but it did not rule out the possibility of doing so in the near future.
"We cannot do the entire study on our own. So we might have to hire private consultancy firms to assist us in the task. However, as of now we have not shortlisted any such firm," sources said.
The detailed feasibility study, which would take somewhere between six to eight months to complete, would delve into the marketing prospects, viability and financial implications of the project, they said.
Sources also refused to spell out the timeframe for signing the memorandum of agreement with the Naveen Patnaik government saying it would be decided only after the feasibility study ended.
The company has also began the process of forming a corporation in India as agreed in the MoU and the body would be Posco's nodal agency for implementing its project in India, they added.
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