The proposed 12-million-tonne-per-annum plant near Paradip port town in Jagatsinghpur district, about 100 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, was given a five-year environment clearance in July 2007.
The plant has been mired in controversy for over eight years now, with environmental issues coming in the way of the project, tipped as the single largest foreign direct investment in India.
Ministry officials said the two parts of the Posco project — a steel plant and a port — have been delinked and only the steel plant has been granted approval.
The decision comes days ahead of South Korean President Park Geun-hye's four-day visit to India beginning January 15.
The state government signed an agreement with Posco in 2005 for the project, the largest foreign direct investment in India.
The government has already acquired 2,700 acres of land required for the first phase of the project (eight million tonnes per annum).
The Union Environment Ministry has finally given the clearance to $12.6 billion Posco's steel plant - the nation's largest FDI so far.
Points to remember:
- The South Korean steel giant Posco got this approval after 8 long years after they agreed to delink the port project from the steel one at the government insistence.
- Though It still requires forest clearance from National Green Tribunal to finally become a reality.
- The breakthrough has come at an additional cost of $600 million (5 percent of the total investment) which the company has promised to spend on "social commitments".
- The project, to come up at Jagatsinghpur In Odisha, has been stuck since 2005 due to problems related to environmental clearance and land acquisition click here for more information about <a rel="nofollow" onclick="javascript:ga('send', 'pageview', '/outgoing/article_exit_link/6891908');" href="/links/?u=<a rel="nofollow" onclick="javascript:ga('send', 'pageview', '/outgoing/article_exit_link/6891908');" href="/links/?u=http://www.erewise.com/current-affairs">http://www.erewise.com/current-affairs">Posco Steel Project</a>.
- The proposed plant will have the installed capacity of producing mammoth 12 million tons annually.
No cheer for Vedanta:
- Vedanta's bauxite mining project in Niyamgiri Hills of Odisha has been rejected by the 12 village councils of Dongriya Kondh tribal groups.
- The tribe performs their customary and religious rituals at the project site which they view as holy.
- The Supreme Court had left the final decision on village councils to decide the fate of the project.
Note:
- It seems slowing GDP growth amidst spectre of debacle in the upcoming general election has put the central government in fast-forward mode to clear pending economic projects.
- Environment minister Veerappa Moily has cleared around 15 projects since taking over from Jayanthi Natarajan in December 2013.