POSCO denies any plan to relocate mega steel plant in Orissa

Bhubaneswar, Oct 22 (UNI) South Korean steel major POSCO, facing stiff opposition from local people, today denied a news report saying it would prefer to shift the proposed mega steel project from Paradeep to some other places.

POSCO India's spokesperson Sashank Pattnaik said he has been misquoted in the news report and made it clear that there was no such proposal to shift the Rs 51,000 crore steel plant, the largest FDI in the country.

POSCO Chief Executive Officer Ku-Taek Lee recently had announced in New Delhi that the construction of the project would commence on April 1 at the proposed site.

Mr Lee was in New Delhi in connection with the company's Board of Directors meeting which also reviewed the progress of the POSCO India project in Orissa.

Mr Pattnaik said the Board of Directors did not discuss on the shifting of the project during latest meeting adding that POSCO-India was fully committed to its 12 MTPA steel plant at Jagatsinghpur with the support of the local people.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik when contacted by the reporters said he had not received any proposal from the POSCO on the shifting of the location of the steel project.

He said the government would provide all support to POSCO to start its construction work from April 1 next.

The POSCO spokesperson said the site has been selected after a lot of analysis. The project, he said, was in the interest of Orissa and its people. There has been tremendous support from the people of three panchayats- Gadakujang, Nuagaon and Dhinkia, the proposed site for the project.

It was only from the Dhinkia village where some villagers were opposing the plant, he clarified.

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