South Korean steel company Posco has started an Indian subsidiary, Posco India, which will be based in Bhubaneswar, Orissa.
Posco project faced difficulties during Cho's tenure as violence at the proposed site delayed implemntation of its Rs 51,000 crore (Rs 510-billion) plant. The company had already undertaken socio-economic survey in the plant site area and gained substantial support from the local people with passage of time.
South Korean steel major Posco's beleagured Rs 52,000 crore (Rs 520 billion) project near Paradip has received a boost with the Centre according environmental clearance to its captive minor port at Jatadhari mouth in Jagatsinghpur district.
Environment ministry has given its go-ahead to POSCO's planned steel plant in the country, but has asked it to spend on "social commitments", a company spokesman said, raising the project's cost by $600 million to $12.6 billion.
South Korean steel giant Posco's 12 million tonne integrated steel project in Orissa is likely to face further delay.
The state government had recommended prospecting licence in favour of Posco-India thrice, but was unable to get them through.
Posco-India, the Indian subsidiary of South Korean steel major Posco, would play a major role in powering Orissa's economy as per a recent study conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research.
Posco-India on Friday said it is now "comfortable" about its proposed Rs 51,000 crore (Rs 510 billion) steel project in Orissa, a day after its compensation package was approved by a committee set up by the state government to iron out land acquisition issues related to the project.
Posco India had entered into an MoU with the state government on June 22, 2005 and with the term of the agreement coming to end this month, it requires to be renewed.
In a bid to win over angry villagers at the proposed plant site area near Orissa's Paradip, Posco-India plans alternative engagement for landless people of the area, company sources said.
Posco India, the subsidiary of South Korea's Pohang Steel Company, is struggling to implement its 12 million tonne per annum steel project, although an MoU for it was signed with the Orissa government in June 2005. Its officials have been abducted twice in five months - the latest being last Satudary, but released unharmed by activists opposing the steel plant. The incidents prompted the police to ask Posco to withdraw its officials from the project site near paradip.
Posco's mega steel plant in Orissa is inching forward with the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests clearing a proposal under which Posco will plant trees on an area equivalent in size to the forest land where the project is coming up.
Posco-India, which has proposed to set up a Rs 52,000 crore (Rs 520 billion) steel project in Orissa, awarded annual scholarships of $500 to 35 students from three leading universities in Orissa.
Five Indian students have been selected by Posco-India for fellowships for a Masters programme at the Graduate School of International Studies in Korea University.
The Posco India hostage crisis came to an end late on Friday night, with the Gobindpur villagers releasing the company executives they had taken captive earlier in the day, according to TV channels.
Posco will have to bid for an iron ore licence to feed its plant.
Forest land measuring 1838.79 hectares in Odisha has been diverted for 15 industrial projects in the state between 2004 and 2013.
In this backdrop, the government plans to acquire another 700 acres to facilitate start work on the project.
The multi-product SEZ will bring in more than Rs 2.11 lakh crore of net foreign exchange in 30 years.
A year after Jairam Ramesh's final environmental clearance, Korean giant waits for state govt to hand over land.
The company said it has no plans to shift the $12 billion steel project from Orissa.
However, the minister did not specify a time frame under which the land transfer will be completed.
Posco India on Wednesday pressed for handing over of 2,700 acres of land to the company for start of construction of its much hyped project in the state.
"The state government has so far acquired over 2000 acre of land for Posco steel plant. The company could easily start its work over the acquired land," Chief Secretary B K Patnaik told reporters.
The company's Rs 54,000-crore (Rs 54-billion) steel project in Orissa had run into trouble with the ministry over alleged violation of environment norms.
South Korean steel major Posco will build the $12 billion plant in Orissa in three phases and hopes to start work on four million tonne (MT) first phase soon after the land is transferred to it.
Billed as India's biggest foreign direct investment, the Posco has been delayed by more than five years due to protests by farmers who are agitating against giving up their fertile agricultural land.
Only 21 out of the 2,200 odd families, engaged in betel vines cultivation there, have applied for compensation by February 10, the deadline set by the district administration of Jagatsinghpur.
The Orissa government on Tuesday rejected the demand to scrap Posco's steel project, saying the Rs 51,000-crore (Rs 510 billion) project could contribute 11.5 per cent to the state's gross domestic products in terms of value addition.
The Union ministry of environment and forests on Tuesday put out an 'update' on the integrated steel plant and captive port of Posco India Pvt Ltd, with hints at stopping the Orissa government from transferring 1,253 hectares of forest land to the company for non-compliance of conditions laid down in the final approval of land diversion given on December 29, 2009.
Four senior Posco-India officials including three South Korean nationals were on Saturday taken hostage by anti-project activists, but were released unharmed seven hours later, official sources said. The officials and South Korean nationals were taken hostage after they went to the project site near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district and were taken hostage around 10.30 am by the anti-project activists demanding its scrapping.
The Supreme Court on Friday cleared South Korean steel major Posco's plans to set up a Rs 51,000 crore (Rs 510 billion) mega steel plant and captive minor port in Paradeep, Orissa.A special environmental bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan allowed Posco India Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Korea-based Posco, to go ahead with the project, for which an agreement was signed with Orissa government on June 22, 2005.
The terms of the new relief package are more generous than the provisions of the state R&R Policy.
This is the third incident in the last three days when activists took at least 13 Posco officials into captivity when they tried to enter the proposed steel plant area
SC has asked Posco to submit a composite forest diversion proposal for its steel project in Orissa, thereby putting the company in a Catch22 situation.
Facing resistance from people who are likely to get displaced by its mega steel project near Paradip, South Korean steel major Posco is looking at "other options".
A year after signing the MoU with South Korean steel maker Posco, the Orissa government has assured the company of about 1,135 acres of litigation free government land for its proposed 12 million tonne steel project near Paradip. \n
Posco India is open to realigning its project area and one of the options could be to the south of the site.
Posco-India has made it clear that it has no intention to shift the site of its 12 million tonne steel project.
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