Posco will soon construct a captive port in Orissa

24 September 2007

Bhubaneswar: South Korean steel giant Posco is planning to start construction of a captive port a year ahead of actual work commences on its 12-million tonne steel plan in 2009, against the backdrop of huge concerns on tardy progress of its Rs52,000 crore greenfield project in Orissa, and opposition by local villagers to the project.

Posco-India CMD Soung-Sik Cho said that the company would start work for its captive port early next year, while construction of the proposed steel plant was expected only in 2009, with a view to seek quick redressal of the company''s concerns for the removal of hurdles in land acquisition and mining lease.

He clarified that preparatory work such as the raising of boundary walls and peripheral structures would commence in a month, but the actual construction of the plant will still have to wait on account of very slow progress at ground level.

Cho said that the demarcation of 193 acres of land was likely to take place by the end of the month, admitting that Posco-India was yet to be handed over a single piece of land out of the 4,004 acre required for the project near Paradip.

The demarcation will be followed by registration, after which the company would take physical possession of the land. The company expressed the hope of a speeding up of the land acquisition process in due course, as 89 per cent of the area comprises of government land, where as 11 per cent was private land.

Cho said that work on the project should not be delayed any further, and was hopeful of it gaining the required momentum before cost escalation becomes a matter of serious concern. Presently, he saw costs at "affordable" levels.