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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Posco plant, India’s largest FDI, gets the green flag

Posco plant, India’s largest FDI, gets the green flag

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published Published on Feb 1, 2011   modified Modified on Feb 1, 2011

Clearing a protracted uncertainty over India’s largest-ever foreign direct investment, the Union Environment Ministry today gave its approval to South Korean steel major POSCO’s proposed iron and steel plant in Orissa.

In an order today, the Ministry gave environmental clearance for the construction of a 12-million tonne per annum capacity iron and steel plant (4 million tonnes in first phase) and a captive power plant at Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa.

It also gave environmental and CRZ clearance to a captive port to be constructed near Paradip.

However, the forest clearance to the project complex has been withheld till such time that the state government gives a “categorical assurance” that there is no violation of the Forest Rights Act in the area.

“Final approval for diversion of 1,253 hectares of forest land for the POSCO project would be granted as soon as this assurance of the state government is received by the MoEF (Ministry of Environment and Forests,” the order said. The Ministry’s stop-work order at the project site, issued in August last year, would be revoked once the forest clearance is granted.

The POSCO project, worth more than Rs 54,000 crore, had received environment clearances for the steel plant as well as the captive power plant and the port in 2007. The in-principle forest clearance, granting approval to divert forest land for the project, came in December 2009.

However, in January last year that the Environment Ministry revised its forest clearance, saying it was contingent on the implementation of the Forest Rights Act that had come into force in 2008.

In June last year, a committee headed by N C Saxena, constituted jointly by the Environment Ministry and the Tribal Affairs Ministry to review the implementation of FRA nationwide, had sent a sub-group to the POSCO site and alleged violations of the Act.

That sub-group had said that thought there were no tribals living at the project site, the presence of Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs), whose rights also have to be recognised under the FRA, had been ignored by the state government. The ministry had passed a stop-work order at the site following the submission of this report.

Posco, India’s largest FDI, gets the green flag In the meanwhile, the ministry constituted another committee, following a number of representations that it had received, to look specifically into the POSCO project. That committee, headed by former Environment Secretary Meena Gupta, submitted a split verdict, one by Gupta herself and the second by the three other members. But both the reports had brought out the presence of OTFDs, besides some other issues.

The two reports of the Meena Gupta committee were extensively discussed by the permanent expert bodies within the ministry which are responsible for appraising the projects and gave their recommendation to minister Jairam Ramesh, who issued the order today.

While granting the approval, the ministry has put 60 conditions in addition to the ones that were put while giving the approvals in 2007.

In the order, Jairam said the additional conditions “provide a comprehensive package of measures to ensure that this project will not be detrimental from an ecological and local livelihood perspective”.

“Projects like POSCO also raise broader issues of our capacity to conduct comprehensive, coordinated and combined environmental and forestry-related impact assessments and appraisals for mega projects and for projects that cut across a number of sectors, traditionally defined. The MoEF has taken up this issue for review and improvement,” he said.

WHAT NEXT

When can work at the project site begin again?

Only after Orissa gives a “categorical assurance” that there are no Other Traditional Forest Dwellers, as defined in the Forest Rights Act, in the area. The assurance will trigger forest clearance to the project, followed by revocation of the Aug 6, 2010 stop-work order.

Do the environment conditions alter the nature of project?

Every environmental clearance is accompanied by conditions. The additional conditions on POSCO aim to ensure the project causes minimal damage to ecology and people in the area.

The Indian Express, 1 February, 2011, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Posco-plant--India-s-largest-FDI--gets-the-green-flag/744401


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