Bhubaneswar, Nov. 16: Come June, and the detailed project report (DPR) for the ArcleorMittal’s 12 MTPA proposed steel plant in Keonjhar district would be ready.

“The Orissa project is on the schedule,” said Malay Mukherjee, a member of ArcelorMittal group’s management board, adding 70 per cent of the DPR was ready. The project’s first phase would take an estimated 48 months from the time of the report submission for completion and is expected to be commissioned by 2011 - 12, he said.

On how the company would meet its deadline, Mukherjee said: “Our pace will be quicker since we are purchasing equipment every year for plants with production capacity of 5 to 6 million tonnes.”

Attending the meeting of the joint steering committee formed by the state government to facilitate the establishment of the Rs 40,000 crore mega steel plant in Orissa, Mukherjee expressed his satisfaction over the progress of the project. The survey for land acquisition was on in four of the 16 project-hit villages under Patna tehsil of Keonjhar district. The rehabilitation and resettlement package prepared on the lines of the state’s R&R policy was nearing completion, Mukherjee said.

“We will be submitting the R&R package to the state government as soon as the land acquisition process is over,” he said. The Union coal ministry has allocated two coal blocks of Orissa to ArcleorMittal and five other companies, including Reliance Energy, Navbharat, GMR and Lanco Group, he said.

The ArcelorMittal group has also approached the state government for a long-term tie-up with the state-owned Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC). A four-member committee headed by state’s chief secretary has been set up to examine the feasibility of ArcelorMittal’s proposal for a long-term tie up with the OMC, sources said.