Ranchi, April 27: Signing on the dotted lines of an MoU is not enough to take off a project in Jharkhand — at least that is what the figures show.

Around the same time in 2005, both Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh governments inked MoUs with Tata Steel. Nearly two years down the line, while the Chhattisgarh project is moving ahead, the one in Jharkhand faces roadblock.

The company signed an MoU with the Jharkhand government for a 12-million-tonne greenfield steel plant. Although Tata Steel was the first company among investors to have applied for land, water and electricity, it has got nothing so far. Whereas in Chhattisgarh, the government has already granted prospecting licence to the company for iron ore mining and the gram sabha has approved the land. The officials, too, are optimistic to start its 5MT project as scheduled.

“If a company that has proven track record in the state has been treated like this, just imagine the plight of others,” said a senior official of a company (not Tata Steel) in Jhrakhand.

Over 60 MoUs have been signed in the power and steel sectors in the past couple of years and except for seven small players, none of the other MoUs has been turned into reality. Land is the greatest roadblock that the investors are facing for the projects. In the absence of rehabilitation and resettlement policy (R&R), the investors are unable to acquire land from local people and the government, despite repeated claims, has so far failed to announce it.

Officials of Jharkhand Infrastructure Development Corporation (Jidco), the agency to expedite land acquisition for mega projects, admitted that none of the bigger players has got land despite identifying it and the acquisition process would start after the R&R policy is announced.

To add to the woes, the revenue and land reforms department has questioned the role of Jidco. The minister, Dulal Bhuiyan, has written a letter to the government demanding that his department should shoulder the duty of helping investors for land acquisition rather than Jidco, which, he feels, should be dissolved.

The engineer in-chief of water resources department, Phulan Prasad, said it has received 60-odd applications. He also stressed the need to set up reservoirs to meet the water requirements of investors.

The mining department’s problem is that it has received more than 200 applications for iron ore lease. “We are sitting on the mining lease applications since we want to ensure that serious players get the lease. There will be shortage of iron ore, if we went ahead in recommending leases to all the applicants,” said a mining official.