Bhubaneswar: ArcelorMittal & Nippon Steel on Saturday said they will invest around Rs 2,000 crore in the first phase in Odisha.
The company has decided to ramp up the capacity of the pellet plant at Paradip from 6 MTPA to 12 MTPA and beneficiation facility at Dabuna in Keonjhar from 5 MTPA to 16 MTPA.
ArcelorMittal & Nippon Steel has planned to invest Rs 2,000 crore to expand the capacity of these existing plants in Odisha, said Chief Minister's Office (CMO).
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik held discussion with ArcelorMittal Group Chairman Lakshmi Mittal on investment in the state via video conferencing.
In December 2019, ArcelorMittal had announced that it had completed the acquisition of Essar Steel. It established a joint venture with Nippon Steel Corporation, called ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India Ltd, which would own and operate the acquired company.
With this, the ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel has acquired the Paradip pellet plant and Dabuna beneficiation plant of Essar in Odisha.
It has also bagged two mines in Odisha Sagasahi and Thakurani iron ore blocks.
The Chief Minister advised the steel tycoon to add value to the mineral resources procured from Odisha in the state itself for creation of more employment opportunities.
It is pertinent to be mentioned here that ArcelorMittal had signed an MoU with the state government in 2006, to set up a 12-million-tonne per annum steel plant at Patna in Keonjhar with an investment of Rs 40,000 crore.
As per the MoU, the project required around 7,753 acres of land. Of the required land, 4,905 acre was under private possession. But the steel giant faced the local resistance in the acquisition of land. The government also could not hold gram sabhas in 15 villages of the project area for the purpose. Finally, in July 2013, the Mittal Group withdrew from the Odisha project.
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