'Arcelor-Mittal to set up 12 MT steel plant'

Bhubaneswar, Jul 7: Mittal Steel Chairman L N Mittal today proposed to set up a 12 million tonne steel plant in two phases in Orissa with a possible investment of Rs 40,000 crores.

Mr Mittal, who arrived here from London this morning and held a one-hour long discussion with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told newspersons that he was impressed with the presentation of the state government about the facilities available for setting up a steel plant.

The steel giant said, ''I have indicated that after the merger with Arcelor, the Arcelor Mittal group would like to have a 12 million tonne steel plant in Orissa.'' The plant, he said would be set up in two phases with six million tonne capacity each.

Mr Mittal said he had introduced his team to the Chief Minister, who had also constituted a core committee to explore the possibility of the steel plant.

He said his team and the core committee would sit together and finalise the details of the proposed steel plant, adding that he was hopeful of signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the plant soon.

UNI