New Delhi, Nov. 1 (PTI): Posco’s Rs 54,000-crore steel project in Orissa may get off the ground by January next year as the state government is “actively working” to remove the hurdles.

“(The) Orissa government is actively working to remove the hurdles in the path of Posco’s proposed 12-million-tonne-per-annum project so that the company can have the groundbreaking ceremony in the next 2-3 months, may be by January-end,” steel secretary Pramod Kumar Rastogi said.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who is likely to visit the country in January, may also visit the proposed plant site in Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa to attend the ceremony.

Posco-India chairman Choon-Kuhn Know had recently said the company was planning to start ground levelling work at the site by January 2010.

Posco entered into an agreement with the Orissa government to set up a steel plant five years ago, but the project has got bogged down in land acquisition problems and regulatory hurdles.