"We hope that the central empowered committee and the Supreme Court will clear the proposal in the next 15-20 days and this will facilitate land acquisition by Posco India," Posco India's chief representative Vikash Sharan told PTI.
The environment ministry has already sent the proposal to the Supreme Court, which had set up the Committee. The apex court's nod will pave the way for the company to begin land acquisition for the 12 million tonne steel plant being set up at an investment of Rs 52,000 crore (Rs 520 billion).
The proposal seeks clearance for forest diversion of 3,093 acres of government land which is shown as forest in the revenue records of Orissa government. While 193 acres of non- forest land has been handed over to Posco, the remaining non-forest land is expected within a few days, he said.
With the receipt of Forest Diversion Clearance, it would be possible to possess 3,566 acres of government land at the site. Posco plans to have separate negotiation for the remaining 436 acres of private land, Sharan pointed out.
Denying that there was any stiff opposition to the steel project, Sharan said the chairman and managing director of Posco India Soung Sik Cho visited the plant site area last month and was warmly welcomed by the locals.
"This demonstrates their increasing support for our project. All affected villages, except minor opposition in Dhinkia, have come out in full support after realising the benefits of the project," he said.
Posco has also won the goodwill of local population through various corporate social responsibility programmes launched in the area and people now appreciate the intention of Posco to grow with the local population," Sharan said.
Posco expects to commence the preparation of land for the site area in October and start construction of the captive port by January next year.
" The Minister of State for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee after his visit to Korea recently told the media that all the clearances for Posco would be expedited and processed on fast track," he said.
Minister of State for Mines T Subbirami Reddy, who was in Bhubaneshwar recently, had said that the Centre was fully committed to providing mining lease to Posco India.
"Posco India is very hopeful of receiving all the clearances at an early date and we have done necessary internal preparations to take the project forward," Sharan said.
Meanwhile, the company has received environmental clearance or its proposed plant. The Orissa government is slated to carry out a public hearing on various mining applications, including that of Posco, and thereafter recommend it to the Centre .
