Other firms will come if Posco exits steel project: Goyal

There are other companies that can replace Korean firm Posco if it decides to withdraw from its delayed steel project in Odisha, Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal said on Sunday.

"There are more and more opportunities in India and if one company chooses to pull out, others will come in," Goyal said on the sidelines of an international diamonds conference here 'Mines to Market'.

Commenting on the delay in land acquisition and other issues, Goyal said the project approval "had happened during the earlier regime and now things are becoming more transparent".

Odisha Industries Minister Debi Prasad Mishra recently said that Posco India has in a letter requested the state government to take back the 2,700 acres of land provided to the company near Paradip for setting up a 12 million-tonne-per-annum steel plant at an investment of Rs 52,000 crore.

Late last year, the Odisha government informed the state assembly that Posco had not made any progress in setting up its $12-billion steel plant, even though the state government had allocated land for the purpose.

Odisha Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Mallick had informed the state assembly that the government had seen media reports that Posco has temporarily put the project on hold.

Posco India, touted as the country's largest foreign direct investment, which is mired in controversy for the last nearly 11 years, has put the project on hold.

--IANS

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