Thursday, June 22 2006 14:24 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bhubaneswar: A year after signing of MoU with South Korean steel maker POSCO, Orissa Government has assured the Company of about 1,135 acres of objection free government land for its proposed 12 million tonne steel project near Paradip.

The Jagatsinghpur District Magistrate has sanctioned 1135 acres of government land in favour of the state-ownedInfrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa Ltd (IDCO). A demand note detailing volume of payment is being sent to POSCO-India today, IDCO Managing Director Ashok Meena told as sources.

"POSCO would require around 4,000 acres of land for its project of which 3,500 acres of land belonged to the state government. However, the 1,135 acres of land are litigation free," he said.

Once POSCO-India made the payment to IDCO, a lease agreement would be signed between the two organisations, Meena said adding that the process would be completed within next 10 days.

He said the state government had received over 6,000 objection letters from local people on the government-owned land available near the project site.

Yesterday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had reviewed the progress of the project and asked concerned departments to expedite procedures for the POSCO project.

The POSCO project is the biggest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country and

"We shall do our best to facilitate the completion of project in time", Patnaik assured.

The POSCO delgation was led by its Chairman-cum-ManagingDirector Soung-Sik Cho at the meeting.