Posco to set up steel plant in Maharashtra in Joint Venture with Uttam Steel

World’s sixth largest South Korean steelmaker Posco has signed an agreement to form a Joint venture with Uttam Steel and Power to set up a 3 million tonnes per year integrated steel plant in Maharashtra.
This will be the first integrated steel plant for Posco in India as it continues to battle regulatory hurdles for a 10 years to set up a mega $12 billion steel plant in the eastern Odisha state.
The Posco and Uttam Steel and Power, owned by the co-promoters of Uttam Galva Steels, which is jointly owned by ArcelorMittal has planned to set up the plant at Satarda in Sindhudurg district.
The plant will be set up in two phase that expect to yield 3 million tonnes of steel per year that requires total investment of 3 billion US dollars.
The reason for Posco to set up plant in Sindhudurg district is due to its available iron ore resource and easy land acquisition by the state government.
Posco could scrap the Odisha project on ground of new law that made the iron ore source costlier for that plant. It already has steel processing centres in the cities of Pune, Chennai and near New Delhi.
About Posco:

• It is South Korean multinational steel-making company intiated in 1968 and is headquartered at Pohang, South Korea.
• It currently operates two integrated steel mills in South Korea and a joint venture with U.S. Steel, USS-POSCO located in Pittsburg, California.
• It had signed a memorandum of understanding in June 2005 with the state government of Odisha to construct a $12 billion steel plant.
• But the project stalled due to various regulatory delays and controversies that prevented company to start its construction. The memorandum expired in June 2011 and still has not been renewed.

Month: Current Affairs - August, 2015