Hurdles to Posco will be cleared soon: Orissa

The Orissa government on Monday said it will within the next three months, remove all hurdles to South Korean steel giant Posco's Rs 52,000 crore (Rs 520 billion) plant in the state amid a possible review of investment by the steel maker.

"We will find ways within the next three months to sort out all hurdles. Already the steel giant has been given 1,100 acres of land for its proposed 12 million tonne integrated steel plant in Jagatsinghpur district," Orissa Steel and Mines Minister Padmanabha Behera told PTI.

He reasoned that misgivings among the people in the project site were being addressed and hoped that Posco would commence work on its project in due course.

Reacting to media reports that Posco was planning to withdraw from the coastal state, Behera argued: "One needs to understand that we are progressing as per the terms and conditions in the MoU we signed in June 2005."

The company is believed to have told the Centre and the Orissa government that "if matters were not sorted out within the next two-three months, then it could re-consider its investment plans in the country", an official source said.

Seeking categorical assurance from the government on various issues pertaining to its project, Posco has asked the the Navin Patnaik government to spell out its stand on its project "as it cannot afford to wait for an indefinite period," the source said.

The company was also actively toying with the idea of shifting to Vietnam, which has a huge potential market and an investment friendly climate.