ArcelorMittal is considering withdrawing from its proposed $20 billion greenfield steel projects in Orissa and Jharkhand, India, according to Industrial Info Resources (IIR), Sugar Land, Texas,
The IIR report indicates that land acquisition for the two 12 million-ton-per-year mills has become problematic, and company Chairman Lakshmi Mittal has indicated that the company may begin to look for land in other Indian states. “In the event that land acquisition continues to prove difficult, we will start to search for alternate sites,” Mittal declared in a published statement.
The same statement also had Mittal vowing that the company does not intend to give up on adding capacity in India, and that building new mills there remains “a crucial part of ArcelorMittal's long-term strategic plans,” according to IIR.
Mittal has reportedly indicated that the company would establish at least one steel plant in India, and that the financial impact of changing sites would be negligible since land has not yet been acquired by the company itself. The IIR report notes that the original sites offered the advantage of access to nearby reserves of iron ore, however.
The state governments of Orissa and Jharkhand have not received notification from ArcelorMittal about canceling the projects, according to IIR, and a government minister in Orissa says arrangements have been made to acquire nearly 7,000 acres of land of the 8,500 acres required for the mill.
The state government of Jharkhand has also been acquiring land, as spelled out in the memorandums of understanding with the two states were signed in 2005, according to the IIR report.