Karnataka rolls out red carpet for Mittal

Global steel giant Arcelor Mittal’s plans for Jharkhand and Orissa may have been stalled, but the Karnataka government has laid out the red carpet for it, clearing the plan for a Rs30,000-crore plant in the state.

“We have cleared the project on January 5 and two sites have got a preliminary nod by the company. These sites are Hospet in Bellary district and a site in Bijapur district,” chief minister BS Yeddyurappa said. “Mittal has also said that he would be promoting 20-30 companies downstream, with the total land requirement for the project being 4,000 acres,” said Yeddyurappa.

Mittal’s own experience of other projects in India have not been very happy. “This is a work in progress. We have received good co-operation from them, this is my first meeting with the chief ministers and if this continues, we can have an MoU in two months,” the steel magnate said.

Mittal has also been invited as chief guest for the state government-sponsored Global Investors Meet to be held in June this year. Yeddyurappa declared that this was not the only big ticket investment coming into the state.

Among the companies setting up shop in the state are Korean steel major Posco, which has sent a proposal for a steel plant costing Rs32,300 crore.