ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel maker, which has proposed to set up a mega steel plant in Jharkhand, is planning to locate auxiliary facilities of the plant at a separate location in the state due to land acquisition problems.
This approach would allow it to start construction early on the plant, for which a memorandum of understanding was signed with the state government way back in 2005.
“We propose to locate the core facilities in Petarwar. We are also evaluating other parcels of land for locating the auxiliary facilities,’’ said a company spokesperson.
The auxiliary facilities would include operations such as iron ore processing, material handling, water reservoir which are not involved directly in steel making.
Though the company has proposed a 12 million tonne per annum (mtpa) plant, it is focusing on the first phase of 6 mtpa now.
A year back, ArcelorMittal had said it may opt for two plants of 6 mtpa each at different locations if it did not get the requisite land for 12 mpta plant at a single location.
The spokesperson said the company, in all, requires 10,000 acre for the 12 mtpa plant, but since the land records of the state are too old, it is becoming difficult to complete the process.
“Some of the land records are of pre-independence time and many of them are in regional language. Besides, there have been numerous transfers of the same from one person to the other in the last many years and official records are difficult and time consuming to verify,” she said.
The company has so far applied with the state department for the acquisition of 325 acres out of the 560 acres for which ikraar naamaas were signed by March 2011. Ikraar naamaas are written agreement with the landholders who wish to sell their land for the project. After signing of the agreement, the company along with the state authorities verify the land documents, which is a tedious and a prolonged process.
“While the ikraar naamaas have been signed for a much higher land parcel, the process of verification is underway,’’ she said.
The company currently plans to acquire a parcel of 2,500 acres and start the construction of the first phase, which will be divided into two stages of 3 mtpa each. Depending on the availability of land at the same location or a different one, the next phase of 6 mtpa will be started.
But it could not give a date for the completion of the land acquisition.
The company is not involved in the land acquisition for its 6 mtpa Karnataka plant, which is been done by Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board
(KIADB).
“KIADB will transfer the land to us in a single tranche and once the process at their end is concluded, we will commence work,’’ the spokesperson said. B S Yeddyurappa, the state’s then chief minister had said in March that he expected the construction of the plant to begin by May as the company would be handed over the entire 1,500 acres by
April. But that didn’t take off as planned.
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