Bhubaneswar, March 6: South Korean ambassador Lee Joon-Gyu today discussed the progress on the country’s biggest foreign direct investment, Posco’s eight-million tonne steel plant, with chief minister Naveen Patnaik here.
Lee, who met Naveen at the secretariat in the afternoon, was briefed by state government officials about the status of the Rs 52,000 crore project, which has been making indifferent progress since the South Korean company signed an MoU with the government on June 21, 2005.
“I was told that the state government was doing its best to expedite the project. I hope difficulties will be removed shortly,” said Lee, admitting that the project had been delayed a bit too long by South Korean standards. “It has been delayed. The MoU was signed eight years ago,” he said.
Lee’s meeting with Naveen assumes significance in view of the assurance given to the South Koreans about fast-tracking the project by Union minister of commerce industry and textiles Anand Sharma on the sidelines of the Partnership Summit in Agra on January 28.
“We are concerned about the delays and will conduct a review. The Prime Minister, himself, is monitoring the issue,” Sharma had told South Korean minister of knowledge economy Sukwoo Hong.
On the other hand, tension gripped the project area near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district today as the administration went ahead with the demolition of betel vineyards at Gobindpur village despite protests.
Abhaya Sahu, president of the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samity, threatened a naked protest tomorrow wherever the administration tried to acquire land.
“People will protest without clothes tomorrow,” he said even as Jagatsinghpur police chief Satyabrat Bhoi did not rule out the possibility of police deployment at Dhinkia, the headquarters of Sahu.
Sources said 10 betel vineyards were demolished and 29 trees were cut down at Gobindpur today and compensation worth Rs 17.93 lakh paid to the affected people. “It was all done with the consent of the people,” said Jagatsinghpur collector Satya Kumar Mallick. He sought to make it clear that there would be no acquisition of land at Dhinkia and Patna villages, where resistance to the project was the strongest. Three persons were killed at Patna on Saturday in an alleged bomb attack, which has furthered heightened tension. With protests mounting, the size of the project has been scaled down from 12 million tonnes per annum to eight million tonnes and land requirement, from 4,004 acres to 2,700 acres of which, the government claims to have already acquired 2,000 acres.
The Mou between the company and the government is yet to be renewed, despite having expired in 2010 itself.
Sources said both the sides were trying to iron out certain outstanding differences over issues such as iron ore swapping, captive port and the employment of local people.
Sources said that while some of the areas of friction, including dropping of the proposal for swapping iron ore and captive port, had been resolved, the government wanted a categorical assurance from the South Korean steel-maker about jobs for the local youths. It wants the company to reserve 90 per cent unskilled and semi-skilled jobs, 60 per cent for skilled jobs and 30 per cent supervisory and managerial level jobs for the youths of the area, apart from helping develop downstream industries around the project site.
