The steel ministry has asked the environment ministry to expressly revalidate the green clearance to Posco’s stranded steel project in Orissa “to avoid unnecessary noises raised by NGOs and anti-project entities.” The ministry would also begin fresh talks with the Naveen Patnaik government to stress the need to hand over the land required for the proposed plant. The South Korean steel company had inked a MoU with Orissa in June 2005 to set up a 12 million tonne integrated steel project in Orissa’s Jagatsinghpur district at an estimated expenditure of Rs 53,000 crore, but the project has been dogged with land acquisition issues. Posco India’s representatives have told the top brass of the steel ministry that the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) too is not helping their cause by delaying the revalidation of the environmental clearance for 4 MT capacity in the first phase. This despite the MoEF’s Expert Appraisal Committee recommending it on June 14, 2012. Posco has often complained that the acquisition, being carried out at the snail’s pace, has only compounded its problems. The company needs over 4,000 acres of land for the entire project. The company’s representatives said that they have so far been handed over 1,703 acres by Orissa till January 2013. “We have been told by by Posco India that to commence construction of 8 MT per annum plant in two phases of 4 MT each in the first stage they need 2,700 acres of government land to be handed over to them. We have planned to talk to the state on this issue later this month,” a top steel ministry official said. While the IMG did deliberate on the prospects of ArcelorMittal’s 12 MT project in Orissa, the ministry has no immediate plans to discuss the fate of the project with the state government. ArcelorMittal is also awaiting the renewal of its MoU with the state which expired in December 2011. Steel minister Beni Prasad Verma had recently expressed his anger on the comments by Lakshmi Mittal, “Industrialisation is an important part of every major economy’s development. By risking progress, India is potentially condemning hundreds of millions to remain in poverty longer than previously anticipated”. Green signal * Posco needs over 4,000 acres of land for the project. The company’s representatives said that they have been handed over 1,703 acres till January 2013 * Posco India says that to commence construction of 8 MT per annum plant in two phases of 4 MT each in the first stage they need 2,700 acres of land.