Bhubaneswar: Hours after the Union Steel and Mines minister Narendra Singh Tomar said Posco will have to bid for mines for its proposed Odisha project, the State’s Mines minister Prafulla Mallick said the chief secretary and Mines secretary will hold a discussion on issues surrounding the South Korean steel giant with the Union Cabinet secretary on August 25 in New Delhi.
Mallick further stated the meeting will be a tripartite one and representatives from Posco will also be present in it.
Mallick said, “First of all, the State government wants to know about the South Korean steel company’s approach towards the Jagatsinghpur project. Let them to clearly state what kind of help they want from Odisha government.”
He added, “We are ready to provide them long-term supply linkage for the project.”
Notably, on August 20, Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik held a review meeting about the Posco’s proposed project. In the meeting, a decision was taken that chief secretary G.C. Pati would hold discussions on the issue with officials from the Centre.
Posco CEO Kwon Oh Joon had said, on July 17, that the Odisha project has been ‘tentatively postponed’. He added, “Until the Indian prime minister offers better deals, we won’t resume and for now we will head to the west and do more downstream work.”
Meanwhile, the Union Steel and Mines minister said in New Delhi that since the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2015 has been passed, the South Korean steel company will now have to bid for mines.
Explaining the whole issue surrounding the global steel giant, Tomar said, “Posco had signed an MoU with the Odisha government. When the NDA government came to power, we saw that the MoU was not renewed. We asked the Odisha government to notify the area (mining) and send it back to us and then we can think of acting on it.”
Further, he stated, “But when the file came back, we had already put the MMDR Act draft on the public forum and it was not possible for the government to act on Posco’s issue. We welcome them. They can participate in mining auction, in value addition.”
Besides, the Union minister said, “I feel mining auction will begin in October and November. I have spoken to all the Chief Ministers of the mineral-producing states and the process has started there.”