Granting of Pl by the Centre for commencing mining for iron ore in the notified area (Khandadhar mines situated in Odisha’s Sundargarh district), will further boost the prospects of commencing the much delayed project
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi having assured South Korea of expediting the much delayed POSCO’s 12 million tonnes per annum capacity proposed steel plant in Odisha, the State Government has now sent the company’s proposal of seeking prospective lease (Pl) for mining within the notified project area to the Union Mines Ministry.
The Centre is likely to take a call on POSCO’s request within a week’s time, a move which will fast track the company’s request to seek a Pl to begin mining for raw material (iron ore) requirement for the proposed plant. Despite being India’s first major Greenfield project, the steel plant which is to come up in Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha, has been hanging fire since 2005 owing to various reasons.
With POSCO having completed the land acquisition process for the first phase of the steel plant (which consists of construction of 8 million tonnes of capacity), granting of Pl by the Centre for commencing mining for iron ore in the notified area (Khandadhar mines situated in Odisha’s Sundargarh district), will further boost the prospects of commencing the much delayed project.
The Mines Ministry in a recent move had sent back all the requests of various entities seeking to mine in non-notified areas to respective state governments, while it had kept with itself only those proposals which sought permission to mine in notified areas. POSCO’s proposal was also among the ones which had been sent back to the Odisha Government.
POSCO had earlier approached the Mines Ministry with a request to seek a Pl for mining in the entire 2,500 hectares of plant area, out of which 2,082 hectares was notified by the company as proposed mining area while the remaining was non-notified.
Now, according to sources privy to the development, the Odisha Government has requested the Mines Ministry to consider POSCO’s request to mine only in the notified area, leaving out the non-notified portion. In other words, the state government has written to the Centre saying that POSCO’s proposal to mine 2,082 hectares of notified area can be considered.
The Pioneer has learnt that Odisha Government’s request to the Mines Ministry, seeking to grant POSCO the Pl to mine for iron ore in notified area had been sent a couple of weeks back. Sources said that Mines Ministry in all likelihood will take a call on the matter within a week.
Apart from this they pointed out that if POSCO wants to mine the remaining 418 hectares of area which is non-notified, then it will have to provide the Centre with solid arguments for doing so. If the Mines Ministry is satisfied with its response then only it will get the Pl for mining in the non-notified areas. In the mining sector, the respective state government’s prior approval is required to be sought by entities seeking to begin mining operations.
According to sources, the Mines Ministry had earlier asked POSCO to approach it only after dividing its proposal into two parts - one seeking to mine in notified area and the other part specifying the non-notified area which also it wants to mine and the reason why it wants to do so.
Odisha Government’s missive to the Mines Ministry on considering only the request of the South Korean mining major to mine in notified area, is likely to expedite POSCO’s case of seeking the Pl for the same.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently had assured South Korean President Park Geun-Hye full support for the POSCO project, which is the biggest FDI in the country, during his Myanmar visit.