Posco moves CCI seeking captive mine exploration licence in Odisha.

Ten years ago, soon after the Congress-led UPA came to power, Posco announced a $12 billion steel project in Odisha. It was, and remains, India's largest foreign direct investment ( FDI) proposal. A decade and two UPA terms later, the South Korean company is still struggling with clearances despite Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's assurances on expediting approvals in January.

Now Posco has told the government that it's put construction work on hold at the plant due to the Centre's failure to grant critical approvals, specifically a prospecting licence that it needs to start exploring the mine allocated to it.

With India's complicated clearance processes having set the project back by nine years, the company has sought urgent intervention by the Singh-led Cabinet Committee on Investment to allow exploration at its captive iron ore mine and commence plant construction.

It's been to CCI before, having approached it late last year to try and hurry up longpending green clearances. This took place in January ahead of a visit by South Korean president Park Geun-hye.

The impasse over the prospecting licence is despite a Supreme Court directive last May for an urgent decision on the case by the mines ministry.

The company had applied for the prospecting licence in 2005 and the state government had recommended this to the mines ministry in late 2006.

While CCI is unlikely to meet since the general election is barely a week away, the mines ministry is re-examining the issue that Posco has flagged as a major stumbling block, senior government officials aware of the development told ET.


ET