ArcelorMittal is planning to start fencing work on the land for its proposed integrated steel project in Karnataka by March 2014, the company said.
It also said that a draft feasibility report for the proposed steel plant had been completed and hydrological and environmental impact assessment studies had begun. In July 2013, the company had announced its decision not to proceed with the Odisha project.
In respect of the Karnataka project, it said in its just-released 2013 annual report that the Karnataka government was processing the allocation of 136.3 acres. This comprises the balance parcel of the total land required for the project.
ArcelorMittal India Ltd. (AMIL) has received the possession certificates for 2,659 acres of private land that it acquired in two tranches of 1,827 acres and 832 acres between December 2011 and October 2012.
“The company is in the process of finalising the sub-contractor agreements related to the fencing and safeguarding the entire land in Karnataka, which is expected to start during the first quarter of 2014,” the company said.
The state government has also okayed the project’s use of water from the Tungabhandra river.
The company said that it had applied for mining leases, although following a recent Supreme Court order relating to illegal mining activities in the state and pending a new mining law by the Centre, allocation of new mining leases in Karnataka has been put on hold.
The company had signed an MoU with the Karnataka government in June 2010 for setting up a six million tonne steel plant with a 750 MW captive power plant at an aggregate investment of $6.5 billion.
On the Jharkhand plant, AMIL said that it was working on the three million tonne plant in the first stage.
