UPDATE 1-India to resolve POSCO plant environment issues -min
(Adds details, background)
NEW DELHI Aug 11 (Reuters) - Environmental concerns over a $12-billion steel plant in India planned by South Korea's POSCO (005490.KS), will be resolved soon, Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh said on Wednesday.
The project planned by the world's third-largest steelmaker has been mired in controversy for more than three years over protests by local residents who stand to be affected by it, concerns over environmental impact and legal issues over land acquisition and a mining concession.
Last week, India's environment ministry ordered a halt to all work on the project, including land acquisition, while a 4-member panel probed if the forest rights act that seeks to protect forest land and settlers had been violated. [ID:nSGE67600L]
But in recent days, government officials and POSCO itself have sounded optimistic about the project although a court case over the mining concession is still pending.
"The environment ministry has raised some issues. They will be resolved soon. We hope to take it up with the concerned ministry," Singh told reporters on the sidelines of a conference.
This week, a top federal official said the project was likely to cleared after a panel investigating a breach of the law in acquiring land for the plant submits its report on Aug. 16. [ID:nSGE67809R]
On Aug. 9, POSCO spokesman Choi Doo-jin said the project in India's eastern state of Orissa would not be delayed by ongoing talks between federal and state governments. [ID:nTOE67801M]
POSCO required 4,000 acres (1,600 hectares) of land in the state, of which 2,900 acres is forested. Final clearances for acquiring the forested land had been given. But there has been little progress in land acquisition because of the protests, prompting the environment ministry to investigate further.
POSCO, the world's third-largest steelmaker, wants to mine iron ore in the Khandadharnear region of Orissa and signed a memorandum of understanding in June 2005 for the plant, which was to be built in three phases by 2016, with production scheduled to begin by the end of 2011 at the completion of the first phase.
(Reporting by Ruchira Singh; Writing by Himangshu Watts; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
((ruchira.singh@thomsonreuters.com; +91-11-4178 1021; Reuters Messaging: ruchira.singh.reuters.com@reuters.net))
((If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com)) Keywords: INDIA POSCO/
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