Posco needs about 2,700 acres to start work on the first phase of the project envisaging 8 million tonne steel capacity. Idco has already acquired 2,000 acres and is in the process of handing over this land to the South Korean company.
The district administration officials said, despite stiff resistance from anti-Posco activists, land acquisition for the Posco project is near completion. The dismantling of betel vines has been completed, but pulling down of the fruit bearing trees is taking time, they added
District collector Satya Kumar Mallick said, "Though the state government had decided to acquire 700 acres of land at Gobindpur village for the Posco project, we would acquire about 900 acres there. We plan to complete the process by May 25. But it would take another one week to pull down the fruit bearing trees after which land will be handed over to Idco."
Out of 900 acres of land, Idco would hand over 700 acres to Posco while the rest 200 acres would be under its disposal for construction of township and other ancillary facilities.
Meanwhile, construction of the coastal corridor connecting the Paradip port to the Posco project site has started.
"Work on the coastal road is going on smoothly. Posco has given Rs 10 crore to the Paradip Port Trust (PPT) to expedite the construction work," Mallick said.