Rains halt Posco land acquisition

The land acquisition for the $12 billion Posco project which was scheduled to resume today in Orissa was postponed for at least a day due to incessant rains, an official said.

The land acquisition for the $12 billion Posco project which was scheduled to resume on Friday in Orissa was postponed for at least a day due to incessant rains, an official said.

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The land acquisition for South Korean steel major's project in coastal Jagatsinghpur district was earlier stopped for four days due to a local festival.

"We were preparing to resume the land acquisition today (Friday), but had to cancel it due to rains," additional district magistrate SK Chaudhuri said.

"If the weather remains conducive, we will start the process again from tomorrow (Saturday)," he said.

Posco has planned to built a 12 million tonne steel plant - the largest foreign investment in India - near the port town of Paradip, about 120 km from Bhubaneswar.

The company requires about 4,004 acres of land for the project, of which 2,900 acres is forest land. The local administration said that it has already acquired nearly half of the land required for the project.