Posco out of CM agenda

BHUBANESWAR: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday skipped Posco while reviewing status several big-ticket projects in the state, fuelling speculations about its future.
The development came barely two weeks after the chief minister said his government was trying hard to implement the steel project near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district.
The mega project, billed as the single-biggest foreign direct investment in the country, did not figure in the India-South Korea joint statement during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Korea.
Industries minister Debi Prasad Mishra and steel and mines minister Prafulla Mallik said the Posco issue was not on the agenda. Both the ministers refused to elaborate.
"Since there is no response from the company authorities, we did not feel it necessary to put it on the agenda for discussion. We have lost hope in the project," said a steel and mines department officer, requesting anonymity. He said there was no discussion about the project at any level in the state administration for past two years.
The state government had inked an MoU with the South Korean steel behemoth in June 2005 for construction of a 12 million tonne per annum (mtpa) steel mill at a cost of $12 billion.
Though initially the company required 4,004 acre, it later downsized the plant to 8 mtpa for which 2,700 acre is needed. The state government has handed over 1,700 acre to the company. The Idco, a state government agency, held back further allotment of land to the company for not paying Rs 54-crore land dues.
Projects of Jindal Steel and Power Limited, Sesa Sterlite and Aditya Aluminium and Gopalpur project of Tata Steel figured in the review meeting. Naveen directed officials to prepare Industrial Policy Resolution, 2015, focusing on employment and value addition of raw materials.