Posco to set up plant in Karnataka

If things work to plan, the Posco story may get a twist, and the Korean steel giant may come home to Karnataka. After a long-drawn battle with agencies to get environmental clearance for a Rs 50,000-crore integrated steel plant and captive port at Jagatsinghpur in Odisha, now it has set its sights on the state.

"One-third of the required ore will be mined in Karnataka. Posco officials met me recently and I told them that showing interest is not enough, there has to be some movement. They have deposited some funds with the government. The land for the factory will have to be cleared by the Karnataka Forest department,'' chief secretary S V Ranganath told.

While there were talks about the company being wooed by the state government, now land acquisition for the project is under way.

Interestingly, the CS confirmed that the company would source one-third of the ore from ore-rich areas of the state.

"One-third will be their own and one-third will be from us. The mines will have to get environmental clearance before anything else, so I don't see why we will have an experience like Orissa. Land acquisition is under way in two or three districts,"he added.

After they deposited Rs 60 crore just before the Global Investors' Meet (GIM) in June, their mining leases are in the process of being finalized. "They haven't got any leases yet but have a preference for five places — Gadag, Koppal, Bagalkot, Bijapur and Bellary. Once they tell us where, we will go ahead. They have applied for 2,000 acres of mining land,"principal secretary of the department of commerce and industries V P Baligar told The Times of India.

Posco's Orissa project uncertain

After a long-drawn battle with agencies to get environmental clearance for a Rs 50,000-crore integrated steel plant and captive port at Jagatsinghpur in Orissa, Korean steel giant Posco may well be coming to Karnataka.

After opposition from local communities and people who cited the Forest Rights Act violation in Orissa, the Union environment ministry-appointed Meena Gupta Committee pointed to grave violations of the Environment Protection Act, Forest Conservation Act and Forest Rights Act, and stated that clearances given so far were illegal and demanded their revocation.

The N C Saxena Panel, had demanded revocation of conditional forest clearance. The project's fate in Orissa is still undecided. The proposed project has been pending for five years. Posco officials recently announced in Seoul that Karnataka is an equally good option because it of its rich ore deposits.
Source:TOI