New Delhi, July 8 (Inditop.com) India will speed up the process of granting iron ore mining licenses to various steel companies, including South Korea’s Posco, Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh said here Wednesday.
“We are planning to almost double the production of steel and for that we have to speed up greenfield projects,” Singh told reporters on the sidelines of a steel conference.
Referring to Posco, which has been waiting for four years to secure raw material for its proposed $12-billion plant in Orissa, the minister said: “We are looking into the matter and will get this done as soon as possible. We are working with the state government to expedite the matter.”
Asia’s fifth-biggest steelmaker is planning to build a 12-million tonne capacity plant in Orissa.
“We are hoping something good will happen,” Posco India spokesman Saroj Mahapatra said over telephone.
Posco has faced opposition in Orissa on the account of land acquisition.
