ArcelorMittal said it has garnered local support from Orissa's Keonjhar district for proposed 12 MTPA steel plant and hopes to take possession of the required land by the end of the year.

"We are hopeful of taking physical possession of the land by the end of the current year to start construction for the greenfield steel project. The pre-land acquisition process has already been successfully initiated," ArcelorMittal CEO, India, Vijay Bhatnagar told PTI in Bhubaneswar.

The response from local residents during the first Gram Sabha, held on August 6 as part of the pre-land acquisition process, was positive toward the Rs 40,000-crore (Rs 400 billion) project, which requires 7,750 acres of land, he said.

The Gram Sabhas conducted by the Keonjhar district administration in two villages in the project site passed off undisturbed as people signed the resolution supporting the plant unanimously barring some stray protests in the vicinity, he added.

"If everything moves smoothly as per plans, Gram Sabhas in all the 14 villages in the proposed site will be completed in about three months," Bhatnagar said.

The company would acquire the land after the state issues notification on the completion of Gram Sabhas.

Of the 7,750 acre land required for the project, about 6,000 acres would be needed for the steel plant, 1,000 acres for the captive power plant and about 750 acres for the township.

The company's chief of greenfield projects in India Sanak Mishra said, of the land identified for the project about 2,500 acres was government land and the rest belonged to private entities.

About 10 per cent of the area was identified as forest land and the government had initiated the process for conversion as per the laid down procedures, he said.

The construction for the project, to be taken up in two phases, would commence once the land is acquired, Bhatnagar said, adding that the first phase of six MTPA capacity plant would be completed in four years.

The project, billed as one of the largest of its kind in the state, is expected to generate about 9,000 direct employments besides providing over 40,000 indirect jobs, both Bhatnagar and Mishra said.

ArcelorMittal is also poised to set up an industrial training institute over an area of 10 acres near the project.

The ITI, where admission would begin next year, would churn out 300 skilled manpower annually, they said. Apart from getting absorbed in the project, the students would also find job avenues elsewhere in view of shortage of skilled personnel faced by the industry.

The Mittal Steel-Arcelor Saga