Odisha supports POSCO in pitching iron ore license

Author: Paul Ploumis20 Jan 2015 Last updated at 06:56:49 GMT

 

NEW DELHI (Scrap Monster): Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India, issued an executive order on last Monday, which states that, all the states will have conduct auctions on mines in order to eradicate the discretions in grant of mineral concessions.

 

The decision taken by Modi, in order to cut down corruption, has lead to a huge hurdle for POSCO, which expected that, the government of India, would hand over the company a mining license without any kind of competition

 

The state government of Odisha, has already sent letters to the central government, recommending it to provide license for POSCO, which would be the largest foreign direct investment in the country. But the central government has not yet made a decision regarding the request sent by the state government.

 

Prafulla Kumar Malik, the Mines Minister of Odisha stated to the reporters on Monday that, the company should be given a mining license on the basis of the recommendation, made by the state government.

 

Narendra Singh Tomar, the Central Mines and Steel Minister, stated that, he would not make any comment on any of the companies. IS Lee, the New Delhi based spokesman of POSCOstated that, the company is still conducting a study on executive order and also refused comment about the matter.

 

The company has not yet started the work on its 12 million tonnes per year capacity steel plant, due to the strong opposition to the land acquisition, and also due to the delay in permission to acquire the iron ore mine, which is the key raw material for steel making.