JSW not to acquire private land for now

To avoid delay in project implementation, JSW (Jindal South West) Aluminium Limited has decided not to acquire any private land for its refinery plant for the time being.

The company is investing about Rs 9,000 crore to set up a 1.4-million tonne production capacity aluminium refinery in Visakhapatnam district.

Initially, the company had asked for more than 3,000 acres as it wanted to set up infrastructure facilities like staff quarters besides the refinery.

The government identified the lands too. But, of the 3000 acres that it identified, the government land was only about 1,650 acres and remaining was private.

"There might be delay in implementation if we go for private lands at this point as acquiring them is a cumbersome process. We have, therefore, decided to limit our land requirement to 1,650 acres, which is totally the government land," P Vachaspathi, general manager, JSW Aluminium Limited, told Business Standard.

The state government has agreed to allot the land at Subbavaram Mandal, which about 35 km from the Visakhapatnam city.

Vachaspathi said they would consider going for more land later.

JSW has already started a mobile health unit and is planning to open vocational training institute for rural youth before executing the project.