MARKET UPDATE
| Posco seeks extension of nod for Special Economic Zone Mon, 22 Oct 2012 00:32:00 +0530 |
| Business Standard Economy Policy News Steel maker Posco India has sought an extension of the in-principle approval for its multi-product special economic zone (SEZ), proposed to be set up near Paradeep in coastal Odisha. The approval for the project expires on October 25. The steel maker has requested the Odisha government to forward its no-objection certificate (NOC) to the board of approvals under the Union commerce ministry, as required under Rule-4 of SEZ Rules, 2006. The South Korean steel major has proposed to develop a multi-product SEZ over an area of 1,620 hectares (ha) in Odisha's Jagatsinghpur district. The SEZ would attract Rs 53,613 crore of investment, mostly foreign direct investment. The project would also bring more than $47 billion (Rs 2.11 lakh crore) of net foreign exchange in 30 years. Besides, it would lay down new infrastructure and generate fresh employment for 48,000 people, 18,000 direct and 30,000 indirect jobs. The company claimed it had made significant progress in securing the minimum required land for the SEZ. It also expected the Odisha government to transfer the minimum required land for its SEZ this year. "Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corp (Idco) has leased 222 ha of the non-forest government land for the SEZ. The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) accorded the final approval for diversion of 1,253 ha of forest land in favour of the developer in May 2011. Following this, Idco cleared encroachments from 607 ha of the land by June 2011, now in very advanced stage of allotment. It is now preparing to remove encroachments from the remaining land, which will be alloted to us shortly,” Yong Won Yoon, Posco India's chairman-cum-managing director, wrote to Odisha Industries Secretary Parag Gupta. So far, Posco India has deposited Rs 29.67 crore to Idco towards land and land clearance activities and disbursed Rs 10 crore as rehabilitation and resettlement compensation. The company has also deposited Rs 105.4 crore with the divisional forest officer towards forest clearance compliance. Yoon said in the letter that the environment clearances granted for the Posco's captive port project and steel plant on May 15, 2007 and July 19, 2007 need to be re-validated in five years. Accordingly, Posco India has requested MoEF to re-validate the green clearances for both projects on April 23 and May 24, 2012, respectively. The company claimed that the expert appraisal committee (EAC) (industry-I) has already recommended re-validation of the environment clearance for the steel plant. |
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