Posco seeks revalidation of environment clearance

With land acquisition for Posco India's proposed mega steel project in Odisha gaining momentum, the steel maker has written to the Union ministry of environment & forests (MoEF), seeking immediate revalidation of environment clearance granted for the project in 2007.

The MoEF had granted environment clearance (EC) to Posco for a four million tonne per annum (mtpa) steel plant in July 2007 with a five-year validity. Without revalidation of EC, Posco India would not be in a position to start construction work.

"The MoEF may kindly consider the grant of revalidation of EC immediately and the additional conditions may be imposed separately honouring the NGT (National Green Tribunal) judgement," Posco India chairman and managing director (CMD) Yoon Yong-Won said in a letter to secretary, MoEF.

Won said, Posco has been struggling to get revalidation of EC for one year. The company was unable to start construction work during the validity of EC (2007-12) as four years were lost in obtaining forest clearance, he explained.

Posco India, in May 2012, had applied for revalidation of the original EC. The expert appraisal committee (EAC) under MoEF recommended revalidation of the green clearance in its meeting held on June 14, 2012 since there was no change in the original 12 mtpa steel plant plan, to be set up in three phases over 4004 acres of land.

The MoEF then constituted a four-member expert committee led by K Roy Paul. The committee submitted its report to the ministry in October 2012. Based on the committee's recommendations, the MoEF has combined the revalidation of original EC with imposition of additional conditions which Posco feels is not in sync with the earlier approach towards revalidation. The committee's suggestions were based on inputs received from Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) that lay out plan for the project has to be altered substantially. Posco India had agreed to start work on an eight mtpa steel making plant if the state government provided 2700 acres of land. It was ready to expand capacity to the committed level of 12 mtpa after receiving the entire 4,004 acres of land.

Posco India clarified during the last EAC meeting on March 6 that the information provided by Idco regarding the layout plan is nothing but an intermediate plan.

"The intermediate plan should not be seen as substitute for the original plan. Since the original layout plan has never been changed, the revalidation of the original EC has to be processed independently from the review and recommendations of the additional conditions," Posco India CMD stated in the letter.

In its status report submitted to the Centre, the state government said it has acquired 2,100 acres of land. Of this, 546 acres have been already handed over to Posco. The rest 1,554 acres is ready to be handed over to Posco. Around 700 acres of land was to be acquired in the current phase of land acquisition of which close to 600 acres has already been acquired.