Posco India chief Yong-Won Yoon (right) comes out of Naveen Patnaik’s office on Friday. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, June 7: On a day Posco-India chief Yong-Won Yoon expressed hope for MoU renewal of the company’s big-ticket steel project, the state steel and mines minister spoke of a fresh one.

Posco-India chief managing director Yong-Won Yoon today met chief minister Naveen Patnaik following which he said he was hopeful of his company’s MoU with the state government being renewed soon.

“We had a fruitful discussion on renewing the MoU with the state government. Now, it will be put on the chief minister’s table. The state government will have to take a call on the issue,” said Yong-Won, indicating that the company was ready to go ahead with the project once the formalities had been completed.

However, Yong-Won described the visit as “courtesy call”. The MoU between the state government and Posco-India, which was signed on June 22, 2005, expired in 2011. Since then, the MoU has not been renewed because of a number of obstacles.

However, steel and mines minister Rajanikant Singh said: “Instead of renewing the MoU, a fresh one will be signed.”

The steel-maker requires around 2,700 acres of which 1,703 acres have already been transferred in favour of the proposed eight million tonne per annum project. “Land acquisition has almost reached its final stage and only 47 acres are left to be acquired for the project,” said a senior government official.

Yong-Won said: “Until the land is acquired we are not sure... But with the recent mining case going in our favour and the state government taking positive steps to clear the land, we are hopeful that it will be handed over to us soon.”

Sources said the company had got a boost in its drive to set up the project after the Supreme Court on May 10 set aside Orissa High court ruling that had quashed the state government’s petition for prospecting licence to Posco in Khandadhar hills.

It also directed the Centre to consider “all objections raised by various parties” to the allocation of the Khandadhar mines to Posco. “The mining case has gone in our favour. The state government is taking positive steps on land acquisition,” said Yong-Won.

However, state government officials said some sort of solution would come out soon on the issue of the National Green Tribunal’s order two weeks ago to maintain status quo on tree felling at the site of the plant.

The Posco boss said they were serious in implementing the company’s social responsibility (CSR) activities in a bigger way. “Since it’s a big project, we need a master plan.”

Officials said Posco had already launched periphery development work by spending generous sums on road projects to connect villages in the project area.

The company, which at one stage required 4,004 acres for its proposed steel plant, has been unable to begin work because of land acquisition problems. In March, South Korean ambassador Lee Joon-Gyu had discussed the issue with Naveen in Bhubaneswar.

In another development, Vedanta Alumina officials met the chief secretary today and said steps were being taken to revive the alumina plant at Lanjigarh that has been closed since December 2012 for want of raw material.