ArcelorMittal, which had to move its steel project in Jharkhand from Torpa-Kamdera in Khunti-Gumla districts to Petarwar in Bokaro district around February this year, is now moving ahead fast with its land acquisition target of 2,500 acre for its first-phase 6 million tonne per annum (mtpa) steel capacity to come up in two stages of 3 mtpa each.
The steel major had signed an MoU for a 12-mtpa steel project with the Jharkhand government in October 2005. The company has already received from the state government water allocation of 35 million cubic metre (mcm) from the Tenughat dam for the phase-I 6-mtpa project at Petarwar.
Although physical acquisition of land by the company hasn?t been much yet but the pace at which it has so far signed binding contracts to sell ?over 600 acre? of land is making the company feel confident about the project now.
?Two processes are running side by side; one is the signing of the ?ekrarnama? (contracts) which is progressing at a much faster pace. The physical acquisition is going a little slower because we have to make sure that the (ownership) papers are in order,? a source said.