Its opponents are disunited, and the Central government wants to show it means business so the giant Korean steel maker may be about to get a second chance in Odisha

After a long struggle of seven years, which saw more downs than ups, the USD 12 billion mega steel project of South Korea’s Posco in Odisha may be nearing the end of its ordeal.

Billed as the single largest foreign direct investment in the country, Posco has faced the ire of environmentalists as well as villagers who have to give up their land for the factory. Local steel makers never took kindly to its entry. Piqued by the project’s slow progress, the Pohang-based, New York, Seoul, Tokyo and London listed steel maker had even threatened to relocate the project to Brazil. Its experience is often cited by commentators when speaking of India’s inability to get large projects off the drawing board.

But things may be changing now. Some recent developments related to land acquisition and environment clearance, the two main hurdles, appear to mark a favourable turn for this beleaguered project.

A panel of the Union ministry of environment and forests has recently recommended re-validation of the green clearance granted to Posco by five more years till 2017. The recommendation, coming at a time when the environment clearance of the project is still under suspension by virtue of an order of the National Green Tribunal, reflects the attitude of the ministry towards the project.

The National Green Tribunal, while suspending the environmental clearance of the project in March this year, had wanted an expert team to visit the site to assess the project’s environment impact afresh. During the tour of the project site, however, the team members conspicuously avoided visiting Dhinkia village, the epicentre of the anti-Posco stir, much to the dismay of the project’s opponents.

Mr Sisir Mohapatra a leader of the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti said that “The team did not visit Dhinkia, nor did it record our concerns about the possible environmental impact of the project. This raises the suspicion that the outcome of this half-hearted study is pre-determined.”

In its own defence, the team’s leader, former Union civil aviation secretary Mr K Roy Paul, said that the mandate of the team was not to conduct any public enquiry. He said that “We are here to see the geo-physical condition of the land. We will submit our report to the ministry by October.”

Source - Business Standard

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