Arcelor Mittal chief executive Lakshmi N Mittal said the Orissa steel project will be set up before the Jharkhand venture. “The Orissa project is moving faster than the Jharkhand one,” Mittal told reporters here Thursday.
Mittal and son Aditya Mittal, who is also chief financial officer, and Orissa project chief Sanak Mishra arrived here at about 4.55 pm. A two-hour discussion on the project was held with chief minister Naveen Patnaik.
“We reviewed the progress of the project in detail,” said Mittal. He said the chief minister gave a lot of guidance for the early implementation of the project.
Expressing satisfaction with the progress, the steel tycoon said, “We have made very good progress since we signed the MoU with the Orissa government in December 2006.”
Arcelor Mittal is proposing to set up a 12 million tonne greenfield steel project with an investment of $9 billion in the Keonjhar district of Orissa.
The Arcelor Mittal chief said the detailed project report of the Orissa plant will be readied by Dastur & Co by the middle of next year.
On being told that Posco is facing a problem acquiring land and getting an iron ore mining lease, Mittal said, “Today’s meeting has made me confident that all these types of problems will be sorted out easily. He said the company is carefully working out programmes to involve the community and the society in the development of the project.”
When asked to comment on SAIL’s offer for a partnership, he said, “We will definitely consider it. Arcelor Mittal, being the largest steel company and with world-class R&D facilities, will certainly look for a partnership with SAIL,” he said.