New Delhi: Steel czar LN Mittal on Thursday expressed concern over slow progress in proposed Rs 1-lakh-crore steel project in Jharkhand and Orissa but ruled out exiting at this stage from the states.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka government has approved Mittal's
Rs 30,000-crore proposed six million tonnes steel project in
the state and MoU will be signed in June this year.
"We are not satisfied with the progress made in Jharkhand and Orissa. We hope that we can make more progress than what we have achieved so far ... but our endeavour will continue. We don't plan to exit from any of our projects," he told reporters here.
"The plan remains the same but the project can come in phases," he said in reply to a query whether the global steel maker may scale down capacity of its 12 million tonne per annum (MTPA) plants, one each in Jharkhand and Orissa.
ArcelorMittal has been facing problems in acquiring land and delays in securing regulatory approvals for its proposed Rs one-lakh-crore steel projects in Jharkhand and Orissa.
The NRI billionaire is likely to raise these issues in a meeting with Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh this afternoon.
About Karnataka project, he said, "Karnataka government has given preliminary approval for proposed plant in Karantaka. The Karnataka plant will be the company's third plant."
Mittal is also meeting Karanataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa this afternoon. The state government has already accorded in-principle approval to the ArcelorMittal's 6-million-tonne steel plant in the state.
"The formal memorandum of understanding will be signed in Bangalore for the Rs 30,000-crore project during the global investors meet on June 3 and 4," a top Karnataka government official told a news agency.
All regulatory and other clearances are in advance stages
of approval while the company's representatives have already
done a recce of proposed sites and mines, the official said.
The company is serious on Karantaka project and this is
in addition to the proposed 12 MTPA steel plants each in
Jharkhand and Orissa, an ArcelorMittal official said.
Earlier, a screening committee, constituted by
Yeddyurappa for expediting the proposals of the steel giant,
had cleared the mining lease application of ArcelorMittal.
The steel giant in November last year had short-listed
sites in the iron ore-rich Bellary region in north Karnataka
for the integrated plant.
The steel major had proposed to set up a plant in Keonjhar, Orissa, and at the tribal-dominated area between Khunti and Gumla districts of Jharkhand.
The company needs about 10,000 acres in Jharkhand and about 8,000 acres in Orissa to put up these plants.
While it has been allocated the Karampada mines in Jharkhand with estimated reserves of 65 MT iron ore against its needs of 600 MT to feed its 12-MTPA plant, in Orissa it is still awaiting iron ore mining lease.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, January 07, 2010, 14:08