|
POSCO has indefinitely postponed the ground-breaking ceremony for a US$12 billion steel mill in India, which was scheduled for April 1, when POSCO marks its 40th anniversary. It was to be the largest-ever foreign direct investment in Indian history, but now the prospects of POSCO¡¯s plans to compete with super steelmakers as ArcelorMittal, Nippon Steel and Baosteel are unclear.
According to POSCO and foreign media reports, POSCO-India and the government of Orissa Province decided to postpone the ceremony saying ¡°certain procedural sanctions¡± remain yet to be obtained. The firm did not say when the ceremony will now be held.
In a statement, POSCO-India spokesperson Shashanka Pattnaik merely said, ¡°The company is closely monitoring the situation and trying its best to get the necessary sanctions.¡± POSCO has recently sent about 10 of 20 South Korean employees from the project back to South Korea. But POSCO said, it merely replaced them with local Indian employees.
In June 2005, Korea¡¯s biggest steelmaker signed with the government of Orissa a memorandum of understanding to build a 12 million-ton per annum mega steel plant in the northeastern Indian province on condition that POSCO is given the right to explore 600 million tons of iron ore deposits in India.
But over the past three years, POSCO has had difficulties acquiring the 16 million sq.m land in the face of local opposition to lifting restrictions on a state-owned forest area. The mining rights for the 600 million tons of iron ore have also been difficult to obtain due to the opposition from local mining companies.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
|
