Other States - Orissa   

Arcelor-Mittal awaits clearances for land

BHUBANESWAR: Global steel behemoth Arcelor-Mittal here on Friday said it was waiting for clearances for land from the Orissa Government even as it was ready with the rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) proposal.

A high-level delegation led by Malaya Mukherjee, member of the Group Management Board of Arcelor-Mittal, and Sanak Mishra, company’s Chief Executive Officer for India Operation, met top officials of the State Government to discuss about the progress of the proposed 12-million tonne per annum capacity steel project at Patna in Keonjhar district. “We have so far studied 16 villages in Keonjhar district. We have our R&R proposal ready. We will submit it once we get the clearances for land. We have already given the proposal for land allocation. For four villages, it has been settled. We are working on the rest villages,” Mr. Mukherjee said. He said as per the R&R policy, one should have full survey of people, families and their preferences, which was more or less completed.

Stating that the company was satisfied with the progress of the project, Mr. Mukherjee said: “We have made a good progress considering the fact that we have signed memorandum of understanding in December 2006. Processes of land acquisition are moving faster.” Sources in the government said Arcelor-Mittal would put its application for land allotment with the district magistrate of Keonjhar shortly. The company proposed to invest over Rs. 40,000 crores for the greenfield steel project in Orissa.

The board member said the company was finalising the technology for the steel plant. “We have at least 10 members in our team from different plants of Arcelor-Mittal worldwide. We are shortly sitting down for finalising the technology and specification of the plant.” “The other issue which have been taken into consideration is that how we should be able to get our equipment much faster than others. We are a very big global company and every year, we buy equipment for producing at least five to six million tonnes of steel. We can divert equipment as soon as the progress here is faster.”

Replying to a query on raw material, Mr. Mukherjee said: “We are looking at a number of alternatives which includes our own conventional method of exploration and mine prospecting and at the same time we are looking at collaboration with existing mine holders, including Orissa Mining Corporation, in order to see how far the process can be expedited.”

Sources in the government said the company was interested in entering into a short-term arrangement for securing iron ore till it was granted a captive mine. An Arcelor-Mittal official said the company would soon be meeting five other corporate houses to start work on a 600 million tonne coal reserve, which was granted jointly to them.

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