BS reported that Odisha Mining Corporation has ruled out the possibility of picking up any stake in the INR 1,200 crore titanium project proposed at Chhatrapur in south Orissa’s Ganjam district.

The project was to be originally developed as a joint venture between Kolkata based Saraf Agencies and Russian public sector firms Russian Federal Agency for State Property Management and JSC Technochim Holding, but it has been pushed into a blind alley following exit of the Indian promoter. Thereafter, the state government had indicated possibility of acquiring stake in the project as a JV partner.

A top OMC executive said that “The industry department wanted to know if OMC was interested to acquire any stake in the titanium project. But we have declined to acquire any stake.”

Earlier, the Russian promoters and Saraf Agencies had gone for a JV tie up for the titanium dioxide plant and formed a special purpose vehicle called Titanium Projects Private Ltd to execute the project.

But work on the ambitious project had hit a roadblock due to sharp differences between the consortium partners over the controversial allotment of land by the state government owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa Ltd.

Idco had allotted land for the titanium project to Saraf Agencies at Chhatrapur but the Russian promoters had opposed it, demanding land allotment in the name of TPPL.

Source - Business Standard

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