Akankshya Mahapatra 
Posco has again called for the establishment of a steel industry in the state. A tripartite meeting was held yesterday. The South Korean ambassador was also accompanied by representatives of the state and central governments. POSCO is once again interested in setting up an integrated steel plant in Odisha.
POSCO may return to Odisha. Posco is reportedly keen to set up an integrated steel plant in Odisha. The issue came to the fore during bilateral trade talks between South Korea and Odisha. This was discussed at a meeting organized by the Indian Chambers of Commerce with the help of Epicol, within Minister of State for Industry Dibyash Mishra, and South Korean Ambassador to India Shin Bong Kill. South Korea is expected to invest Rs 90,000 crore in the integrated steel industry. The POSCO project is said to be the largest in the country in terms of foreign investment.
In 2014, POSCO announced its withdrawal from the Odisha project. It was proposed at the time that POSCO would build a steel industry with a capacity of 12 million tonnes near Paradip with an investment of about Rs 52,000 crore. In 2005, POSCO signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state government. However, the project was halted due to land acquisition problems. For this, the government acquired 2,600 acres of land and handed it over to Posco. But Posco handed over the land to the company and fled to South Korea.
Now POSCO has changed its mind again. Opposition groups called for a boycott of the assembly, citing “unprecedented efforts by the state government and POSCO.” The government should use the industry to the fullest in the state. At the same time, the ruling party argued that the government provided a number of benefits to Posco.
Trade between South Korea and India is on the rise amid the changing political and economic situation of the world. At the same time, South Korea’s interest in investing in the steel industry in India is a good sign for Odisha.
