- Total investment of INR 1 lakh crore mooted
- Land acquisition problems delay Keonjhar ferro alloy project
Vedanta Group Chairman Anil Agarwal met Odisha Chief Minister, Mohan Charan Majhi, and senior state bureaucrats amidst delays in the company’s projects in the state.
Vedanta reiterated its commitments totalling a capital investment of around INR 1 lakh crore. This will include a INR 2,000 crore investment in a ferro alloy plant in Keonjhar. The official government release mentioned the company’s plans to build two new aluminium parks to produce high-grade aluminium alloys, one near its plant at Jharsuguda, and the other on a site identified by the state government.
The aluminium park in Dhenkanal is not a new announcement and has been delayed for the lack of land. Speaking to the media after his meeting, the Chairman said the government has promised to give 400 acres in Dhenkanal in the next month, of the 1400 acres it expects.
The company has also been facing protests and objections to its bauxite mines. In August, a committee of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change deferred approval for Sijimali, faulting the Odisha government report’s silence on local objections, which have also been made before the Orissa High Court. Meanwhile there have also been vocal, even if likely motivated, objections from locals over Vedanta’s purchase of bauxite from OMC’s Kodingmali mines.
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