JSW to set up its steel plant in land acquired for Posco in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Thursday said 2900 acres of land, which was earlier allotted to South Korean steel major Posco, has been allocated to JSW Steel to set up its mega steel plant of 10 million tonne capacity in Paradip.

“2,900 acres land, which was earlier allotted to Posco, has now been given to JSW to set up the steel plant. The authorities of JSW have been directed to deposit money for the allotted land,” informed Industries minister Ananta Das.

The government received a proposal from JSW Steel in 2016 to set up a greenfield steel plant in Odisha.

JSW Steel is now taking approvals from the Government of India for environment and forest clearance, said an official.

Earlier, the steel company had asked for 4,500 acres of land near Paradip to install the shore-based steel plant in phases.

The High-Level Clearance Authority (HLCA), the highest body to approve investments in Odisha headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, has already approved the JSW’s Rs 50,000 crore steel project in 2017.

The steel plant is expected to create around 50,000 jobs after goes on commercial operation.

Notably, the state government had acquired 2700 acres of land for Posco steel project. However, it failed to start its work due to opposition from the local and mining issue.

In April 2017, Posco asked Idco, the land acquisition agency of the state government for industrial purposes, to take back the acquired land citing its inability to start work.