The Orissa government has decided to hold back the land allotted to various industrial projects in excess of their requirement. The government has found that 10 projects have been allotted a total of 3207 acres of excess land.

Arcelor Mittal, Jindal Steel & Power, Bhusan Steel Ltd, and Aditya Aluminium are among the ten companies who have been allotted excess land.

?We have taken steps to ensure that excess land is not handed over to the projects?, IPICOL managing director Ashok Meena, told FE.

He said state-owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corp (IDCO), which has acquired land for projects, has been directed not to give possession of the excess land to project promoters.

Realising that the private companies that have signed MoUs have been asking for more land than is required, the state government had engaged Dastur & Company to study and recommend the actual land requirement of projects. According to the benchmark set by it, a project of 1 mtpa will require 560 to 625 acre, while a 2-mtpa one will need 1200 to 1300 acre. Similarly, projects of 3 mtpa, 5 mtpa and 6 mtpa will require 1700 to 1850 acre, 2000 to 2800 acre and 3100 to 3350 acre, respectively. Project promoters will have to use 33% of the land for afforestation and 15% for ash disposal.

Arcelor Mittal, which is setting up a 12m tonne plant in the state, has been allotted 8000 acre in Patna tehsil of Keonjhar district. As the project requires only 7000 acre, the government is proposing to truncate the land size for it.

Aditya Aluminium, a Hindalco company, has been allotted 5970.29 acre while its requirement is only 5099 acre. The IDCO now will not hand over the excess 871 acre to the company. Bhusan Steel Ltd has been denied 600 acre, as its requirement is only 1400 acre as against the allotment of 2000 acre.

Jindal Steel & Power would be given 500 acre less as its requirement has been pegged at 3,500 acre as against the allotment of 4,000 acres.

Similarly the government has truncated the land size of the projects being developed by Rungta Mines, SPS Steel Ltd, Eastern Steel & Power, SMC Power Generation Ltd, Techton Ispat Pvt Ltd, and Mahaveer Ferro Alloys.

The IPICOL managing director said the excess land would be used for developing downstream industries. Land will also be allotted to the companies having expansion plans, he added.

IPICOL is the state-owned company, which is providing escort services to the projects coming up in Orissa.