India: Odisha to acquire 1090 acres for expansion of Rungta Mines' steel plant

IDCO, Odisha's nodal agency for land acquisition for industries, will acquire 1090.76 acres of land, including a patch of irrigated land, for expansion of the 2.85 mnt pa integrated steel plant of Rungta Mines Limited (RML) at Jharabandha in Dhenkanal district.

RML plans to invest around Rs 11,001 crore to ramp up capacity to 7.55 mtpa for which it has already received state government approval.

The area identified for this expansion includes an irrigated area of around 129 acres (around 92 hectares) under four lift irrigation projects. IDCO has sought approval of Odisha's water resources department to hand over the land to RML.

As per notification of February 24, 2016, twice the ayacut, will have to be paid for by the project proponent as compensation. For RML this works out to Rs 2.76 crore (at the rate of Rs 1.50 lakh per hectare) that it needs to pay towards the creation of 184 hectares of irrigable land. The cost of the total land acquisition will be tallied later, said an official.

RML, one of the state's largest miners until 2020, has also announced plans to increase capacity of its Keonjhar steel plant from 0.53 mntpa to 3 mntpa with an investment of Rs 7,920 crore. Government sources say land acquisition has also begun for the same.

Other Odisha-based steel majors, JSPL, Tata and JSW have also announced greenfield and brownfield expansion plans that were recently approved by the state government which plans to double its steel-making capacity, from 30 mntpa to 60 mntpa by 2030.