South Korea today sought Indian government’s support for taking off POSCO’s proposed joint venture with SAIL to set up a 3 million tonne steel plant at Bokaro, Jharkhand, at an estimated cost of Rs 15,000 crore.
“I asked the Minister’s support for the project POSCO is implementing in cooperation with SAIL to build an integrated steel mill using advance technology of Finex,” South Korea’s Vice Minister for Trade, Energy and Resources, Park Young June told reporters here after a meeting with Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma.
The negotiations for the proposed plant, to be set up at the land adjacent to SAIL’s existing 4.5 MTPA plant in Bokaro, have been on since early 2010.
However, both the companies - POSCO and state run Steel Authority of India (SAIL)- have not yet succeeded in striking a joint venture.
According to the initial plan, the plant was proposed to run on POSCO’s FINEX technology, which reduces dependence on coking coal and facilitates the use of low-grade iron ore and was to be constructed in two phases of 1.5 MTPA each.
While POSCO has been seeking a majority stake in the JV for its FINEX technology, SAIL wanted it to be an equal venture.
Currently, the detailed project report (DPR), which was ready at the beginning of the year, has been pending before the SAIL Board for further considerations.
“We are yet to take a call on the issue,” SAIL Chairman C S Verma had said last week.
The visiting Korean Minister also thanked Mr. Sharma for providing support in clearing the environmental logjam for POSCO’s USD 12 billion steel plant, proposed in Orissa.
After putting it on hold for a long time, the Environment Ministry had given the project a conditional clearance in late January, with about 60 conditions.
However, wary of the bitter experiences faced by the POSCO in Orissa, the Korean Minister was non-committal on when the plant of POSCO will begin production.
“There are some more approvals to be issued for POSCO. So, it will be ready when all the approvals will get issued,” the South Korean Minister added.
