Arcelor Mittal to locate its Orissa site next mth

Bhubaneswar, Nov 09: To show its keeness to set up a 12 MTPA steel plant in Orissa, the Arcelor Mittal Steel Company has already registered itself as an Indian company and short listed four locations to set up the plant in Orissa.

Arcelor-Mittal's Chief of India Operation Sanak Mishra who met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here yesterday and submitted a draft proposal about the project, was hopeful that a final site for the proposed steel plant with an investment of Rs.36,000 crores would be finalised by next month.

The Company initially preferred to have a port based steel plant and accordingly identified four locations along the Bay of Bengal coast near Bahuda Muhana and Palur in Ganjam district, Dhamra and Chudamani in Bhadrak district.

But subsequently, the company had a second thought and identified a few more sites like Patna in Keonjhar district and Khallikote in Ganjam district besides Chiplima in Sambalpur district for the proposed plant.

The Company had entrusted Mecon with the job of selecting site for the plant which had in the meantime selected four sites-Balgopalpur in Balasore, Patna in Keonjhar, Basudebpur in Bhadrak and Khallikote in Ganjam district.

Mr.Mishra told newsmen here that Mecon would submit its final report within four weeks and after that the Company would go ahead with the site to set up the integrated Steel plant.

The Orissa government had already constituted a joint task force to expedite the Arcelor-Mittal Steel project. Once the site was selected the joint task force would sit and decide the next course of action including the signing of the MoU with the state government, Mr Mishra said.

To a question, he said the Arcelor-Mittal was interested to have a site with minimum displacement and good communication network besides availability of sufficient water.

Arcelor Mittal chief Laxmi Narayan Mittal had met the Chief Minister on July 7 last and evinced interest to set up a 12 million tonne steel plant in the state.

Mr Mishra said the company had already approached the Industrial Development Corporation (IDCO) to allot a space in the Fortune Towers, where the POSCO had already set up its office, to start their office.

To a question, Mr Mishra refused to speculate the location of the Steel plant stating that the Mecon has been entrusted with the job and the place would be finally known within the next month.

UNI