South Korea's Ambassador in India lee Joon-gyu on Wednesday ruled out the possibility of any change in the mega Posco steel project site near Paradip.
"I don't think there would be any change of the present site or shifting of the (proposed) Posco steel plant," he asserted after meeting CM. Joon-gyu was optimistic that the project work would be launched in the earlier part of this year coinciding with the celebration of 40thanniversary of the Indo-Korea diplomatic relations.
"I would like to bring my first lady President (of South Korea), who was just sworn in on February 25, to India to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between India and Korea. If possible, both my President and the (Odisha) Chief Minister would together launch the mega Posco project work," he said.
Joo-gyu said that both the countries would celebrate the 40th year of their diplomatic relations in March this year. "If we could launch the project, that would be the biggest present to the people of both Korea and India," he hoped.
Stating that his discussion with the Chief Minister was very fruitful, he said the Chief Minister was confident about the coming up of the project and "the Chief Minister and the State Government have done a very good job."
Admitting that the land acquisition for the project has been slow even after around eight years of the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding for the project, he said his Government is worried about the delay, which is too much by Korean standards.
He said that in the event of the Posco project being realised, it would greatly stimulate the economy of the State and generate huge employment opportunities and also improve the industrial culture of the State.