Keonjhar rues Mittal plant withdrawal The Statesman24 Jul 2013 | || | | STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Keonjhar, 23 July With Arcelor Mittal pulling out, the hopes of mineralrich Keonjhar to have an integrated steel plant in the district has been dashed once again. According to people in the mining industry, since the seventies, the district, which has a rich deposits of iron ore and manganese, has seen many such project being grounded even as other districts and states benefit from the ore supplied from here. Recalling the innumerable failed attempts and promises by successive governments, the local people said in the first half of the seventies there was talk of a second steel plant in the public sector being established in Keonjhar district. Keonjhar was the front runner amongst the other districts which were vying for the steel project. It had several advantages, including availability of raw materials, necessary infrastructure, Baitarani river for water. A committee was set up and Nayagarh area of Keonjhar was selected as the most suitable site. But for some inexplicable reason the project did not materialise. The boom in the iron ore market since the year 2000 triggered a beeline of industrialists in the metal sector to sign MoUs with the Naveen Patnaik government and establish steel plants. Strangely, none of the major projects were to be based in Keonjhar district. Instead, districts like Jajpur, Angul-Dhenkanal belt were the preferred destinations. A handful of sponge-iron units did crop up in Keonjhar district but no major steel plant was proposed except the Arcellor Mittal project. The lone 12 million tonne project had revived dreams of Keonjhar getting its due. Now even that dream has been dashed with Mittal announcing his withdrawal from the state, rued the mining sector here. Opposition political leaders here like Murali Sharma of the BJP have virtually pounced on the Naveen Patnaik government for its failure to retain the investment proposal of a global player like Mittal. The CM is going out of the way to help Posco set up its plant in Jagatsinghpur district, but he completely ignored the Mittal project, charged Mr Sharma. Expressing his anguish, the BJP leader said Mittal suffered due to the lack of political will and lack of cooperation from the administration. The state government ought to have made alternative arrangements for land acquisition in Champua area if there was stiff opposition at the proposed site at Patana, he said. The Congress leaders of the district, including Mr Niranjan Patnaik, Mr Jayadev Jena, have also blamed the state BJD government for the pullout by Mittal. No investor will wait for six to seven years only to see that the government refuses to move, charged Mr Jena.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 14:08:23 +0000
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