Govt to sign pact for Keonjhar mega steel plant during Utkarsh Odisha event: CM

A senior Odisha government official said the steel plant would be a joint venture between the JSW Group and South Korean steel major Posco.

Updated on: Jan 14, 2025, 22:24:51 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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Bhubaneswar: Odisha chief minister Mohan Majhi on Tuesday said the state government will sign an agreement for setting up a mega steel plant in Keonjhar during the Utkarsh Odisha programme in Bhubaneswar on January 28 and 29.

Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi (ANI)

Majhi made the announcement at the start of his three-day tour to his home district, Keonjhar.

A senior state government official said the steel plant would be a joint venture between the JSW Group and South Korean steel major Posco.

During a previous visit to Keonjhar on November 1, Majhi said the two groups would jointly set up a mega steel plant in the district which would make Odisha a major steel producer in the world.

The two groups signed an agreement last year to develop an integrated steel plant in India with an initial capacity of 5 million tonnes per annum.

Two patches of land have already been identified for the proposed project in the district.

Majhi, who represents the underdeveloped, but mineral-rich Keonjhar, has been stressing faster development of the region. Last year, he constituted a dedicated task force, headed by chief secretary Manoj Ahuja, to accelerate the pace of industrialisation in the state, with specific focus on Keonjhar district that churns out the maximum iron ore in the state.

In 2005, Posco signed a memorandum of understanding with the Odisha government for setting up a 12-million-tonne (later scaled down to 8 million tonne) steel plant near Paradip port. However the project hit a roadblock following protests by local people against the acquisition of land for close to a decade and uncertainty over getting a captive mine for the project. In March 2017, Posco announced its pullout from Odisha when it asked the state government to take back the land allotted to it for the $12 billion steel project.

Incidentally, the state government handed over the land earmarked for Posco to JSW near Paradip port where it is setting up a 13.2 million tonne steel plant at a cost of ₹65,000 crore. The foundation stone for the plant was laid in February 2024 by then chief minister Naveen Patnaik. The project was granted environmental clearance in April 2022.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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