JSW Steel gets nod to set up greenfield-integrated steel plant

JSW Steel Ltd on January 5 said that its subsidiary, JSW Utkal Steel Ltd, has received possession of 2677.80 acres of forest land in Rajnagar, Odisha for setting up a greenfield Integrated Steel Plant. This follows the environmental clearance received in 2022 and re-validated in 2023. The non-forest land of 272.51 acres has also been leased.

With this, JSW Steel added that the total land required for the project that is 2950.31 acres, of which 2677.80 acres was forest land. The non-forest land of 272.51 acres has already been leased in favour of JSW Utkal Steel Limited by Odisha government.

Last year, the steelmaker flagged that the capital expenditure for the 13.2 million tonnes per annum integrated steel plant (with cement and power plants) project is expected to be approx. Rs. 65,000 crores and phase-wise work will begin once the land is handed over to the company.

The land parcel, which is closer to the Paradip port in Odisha, was once earmarked for the Korean giant Posco. The company had plans to set up 12-mtpa steel plant. However, the project failed to take off as local protests over land acquisition, delayed environmental clearance, causing Posco to abandon the project.

In April last year, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) suspended the environmental clearance (EC) given to JSW Utkal amid local protests. Local protests against the acquisition began in 2021 upon fears of getting displaced from their farmlands and losing their betel vineyards due to the project.

The steel giant said last year that the project is expected to generate “significant” employment opportunities in the region.