Centre examining ore lease proposal to Posco for Rs. 52,000 crore project.

The Centre is examining a proposal for grant of prospecting licence for iron ore to South Korean steel giant Posco for its proposed Rs. 52,000-crore steel project, which is stalled for about a decade now.

'A proposal for Centre's nod to prospecting licence (PL) to Posco for iron ore over a notified area of 2082.50 hectares has been received by the Mines Ministry from the Odisha government. The matter is under examination,' a Mines Ministry official told PTI.

The official said that the Odisha government is still to renew the pact for setting up the plant at Jagatsinghpur district. The pact lapsed as the company has not achieved required milestones for the renewal so far.

The Odisha government last week said it was optimistic about the project.

'The Posco project work has not started. However, we are optimistic about implementation of the project,' Odisha Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Kumar Mallick told the state Assembly last week.

ET