10 July:The Orissa government is likely to place a report on progress made in the steel sector, including Rs 51,000-crore Posco India project, in the state at a review meeting to be held at the Prime Minister’s Office on Friday.
"We are ready to attend the review meeting at the PMO tomorrow," Orissa’s Steel and Mines Secretary Ashok Dalwai said on Thursday.He also claimed that 28 companies out of 46 that signed agreements with the state government to produce steel, have already started partial production.
Dalwai said the government would place the report before the PMO on the progress made in different projects, including the 12 million ton pa (MTPA) Posco-India project proposed to set up near Paradip.
Orissa added only 7 MTPA of steel in the past four years, though it had signed the MoUs to produce an extra 74.66 MT steel annually with an investment of Rs 1,97,025 crore.
"Even as only 7 MTPA extra steel had been added to the previous steel production, many projects were progressing well to meet the target," he said.
The state government would also appraise the Centre of the difficulties faced by the industries while implementing projects in Orissa.
This extra production of 7 MTPA steel was added to the 1.5 million tons of steel produced in Rourkela Steel Plant of SAIL every year.
While the biggest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of Rs 51,000 crore proposed to be invested by South Korean steel major Posco had made no headway, other mega projects by ArcelorMittal, Tata Steel, Essar and Jindal were also moving ahead very slowly.
Dalwai pointed out that Orissa had been asked to attend the review meeting because it was one of the states with enormous potential in steel sector.
"Orissa will roughly contribute about 20 percent of India’s steel production by 2020," Orissa’s Steel and Mines Minister Pradeep Kumar Amat said.
Of the total targeted steel production of 290 MTPA in the country by 2020, Orissa would produce over 50 MTPA by the time, the Minister said.
Sources said at least two major projects, one by Posco India and another by Tata Steel had been facing difficulties due to opposition from the local people.
"We will certainly meet the target in stipulated time," the Minister said, adding mega projects like ArcelorMittal Essar, Jindal and others were doing well.