Arcelor Mittal Shows lack of interest in Odisha Project

Arcelor Mittal, which has proposed toset up a 12 million ton steel project in Odisha with an investment of Rs40,000 crore, seems to have lost its interest with the Greenfield project. Evenas per some information the company has already closed down its office atBhubaneswar.

Sources in the Odisha Government saythat the global steel major is not taking any interest in theproject. They point out that neither is Arcelor Mittal responding to theletters of the State Government nor are its officials pursuing the project withthe Government. Ã¢â‚¬Å“Ever since the MoU with Arcelor Mittal expired onDecember 20, 2011, the State Government has made all out efforts to keep intouch with the company”, said Minister for Steel & Mines Rajani KantaSingh.

Meanwhile, a senior official of thedepartment revealed that the state government had written to Arcelor Mittalthrice in the recent past, but had not received any reply. The department firstwrote to Arcelor Mittal in January 2013 asking the company to furnish a reporton the physical and financial progress of the project up to December 31, 2012and then followed it up with reminders on February 3, 2013 and March 11, 2013,the official said. “The Department has taken a serious view of the company’sfailure to submit the physical and financial progress report despite severalreminders”, he said.

 Though Arcelor Mittal had filed a formal proposal forrenewal of the MoU, unlike Posco India, it was not pursuing the matter with theGovernment, the official added. Arcelor Mittal has sought 7003 acres of landfor the project and 750.58 acres for the plant township in Patna tehsil ofKeonjhar district for the 12 million tons Greenfield project.

Recently, group chairman L.N.Mittalhad expressed his displeasure over the delay in executing projects in India andsaid that India is not his top priority for investments.