Tata Steel’s proposed $5 billion (Rs 22,500 crore approximately) investment for a 4.5 million tonne integrated steel plant in Vietnam took the first tentative steps towards implementation with thorny issues on land allocation and rehabilitation of displaced people appear to have been finally ironed out after a four year wait.
The Vietnamese government on Wednesday promised action on land allotment for the project saying there was no question of the land being given to any other company.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee held a bilateral meeting with the Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on the margins of the annual Asian Development Bank (ADB) conference in Hanoi to discuss ways and means to remove all roadblocks for allotting land for the project and other issues of economic cooperation.
The Vietnamese government, it now appears, has climbed down from its earlier stand of insisting on Tata Steel bearing the entire cost of resettlement and rehabilitation of people displaced by the project in Ha Tinh province in central Vietnam.
{{/usCountry}}The Vietnamese government, it now appears, has climbed down from its earlier stand of insisting on Tata Steel bearing the entire cost of resettlement and rehabilitation of people displaced by the project in Ha Tinh province in central Vietnam.
{{/usCountry}}“The issue of re-settlement costs for the land would be resolved to the mutual satisfaction of all sides and the investment certificate for the project would be issued soon,” the official said an official accompanying Mukherjee here.
Mukherjee also asked the Vietnam government to allow Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank to open branch offices in Vietnam.