Several major steel companies are set to miss the deadline for minimum land acquisition in Jharkhand and thereby risk cancellation of the memorandums of understanding (MoUs) they had signed with the state government for setting up plants.
The companies had a deadline of October 31, 2010 to acquire at least 200 acres in case they were to go ahead with their projects.
A state government source said the deadline has not been extended and the companies have been directed to submit a report of their progress in a week’s time.
Going by the source, most of the companies have missed the deadline, though no specific official data is available so far.
“Once they submit the report on their progress, then it will be forwarded to the ministry to decide on further course of action.”
The companies which had proposed projects in the state include JSW Steel, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL), Bhushan Steel, Ispat Industries, Essar Steel, Abhijeet Group, Rungta Mines, Hindalco Industries and ArcelorMittal.
“Some of them have made substantial progress, such as ArcelorMittal and JSPL, but many have not made any progress,” the source said, adding, the companies were asked to submit a report a few months back, too, but none came forward.
Sheshagiri Rao, director - finance, JSW Group, in a recent press conference said, “On the land acquisition front, we have made no progress since we are focusing on tying up iron ore and coal for the project and utility linkages.”
The company plans to build a 10 million tones per annum (mtpa) plant in Jharkhand. It had been allotted an iron ore mine and a coking coal mine in the state with reserves of 250 million tonnes each. It also has plans to build 900 mw captive power plant and a 6 mtpa cement plant in the state.
A source close to Essar Steel said the company is going ahead with its plans in Jharkhand. However, it did not have any such land acquisition clause in its MoU with the state government, he said.
On the other hand, ArcelorMittal has made substantial progress in terms of land acquisition.
An ArcelorMittal spokesperson said the company is very keen on its plans in Jharkhand and plans to acquire close to 1,000 acres in the state by December and the entire 2,500 acres that it requires for the project by March 2011.
ArcelorMittal plans to set up two 6 mtpa steel plants in the state at the same location or at different locations. The company, which has so far not made much headway on its India plans, is likely to start construction of its plant in Jharkhand by April next year.
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