The National Green Tribunal (NGT) will hear arguments regarding forest clearance to the Posco steel project on September 2.
The delay in revalidation of environment clearance for the Posco project has thrown a spanner in the start of work by the company near Paradip though the State Government has completed land acquisition for the first phase of the project over a month back.
The 12-million-tonne project, to be built at a cost of $12 billion and billed as the country’s single biggest FDI (foreign direct investment), is awaiting swift nod from the Union Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF).
Though the National Green Tribunal (NGT) at its last hearing on August 12 had asked the MoEF to take a decision on revalidation of green clearance by August 23, sources said, the Ministry was yet to submit the necessary documents to the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
The MoEF had granted environment clearance (EC) to Posco for a four-million-tonne-per-annum (MTPA) steel plant in July 2007 with five-year validity. Without revalidation of the EC, Posco India would not be in a position to start construction work.