South Korean steelmaker Posco is likely to start work on its delayed steel unit in Odisha within a year as the State has transferred a significant chunk of land required for the mega project to the firm, a senior government official said on Thursday.
“I think, they (Posco) should start (work on the unit) in a year or so,” U.P. Singh, Joint Secretary in the Steel Ministry, told reporters on the sidelines of the India Steel-2013 summit organised by industry body Ficci in Mumbai.
The Odisha government has already transferred around 1,700 acres to the company out of the 2,700 acres required for the plant in Jagatsinghpur district, he said.
The Korean major, which is not able to set up the unit for the past seven years due to land acquisition issues and agitation by the locals, has revised its land requirement to 2,700 acres from the earlier 4,000 acres.
It has also scaled down its production plan to 8 million tonnes in the first phase from 12 million tonnes earlier.
