BHUBANESWAR: Amid speculations over the fate of the proposed steel project near Paradip, Posco-India on Tuesday said it would renew the memorandum of understanding with the State Government soon. “The MoU will be renewed with the Orissa government as soon as possible,” Posco-India Director YK Kim told reporters in the presence of the company’s new chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) Y W Yun. Yun assumed office on September 3. He is Posco-India’s third CMD since the company was formed in 2005. He replaced C Kuhn Know who left for South Korea last month. The new CMD on Tuesday met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in the latter’s Secretariat chamber and discussed the progress of the steel project. Describing Yun’s meeting with the Chief Minister as a “courtesy call”, Kim said that they had discussed the progress made in the project. Asked if the issue relating to the MoU renewal figured in the discussion, Kim said, “Different aspects relating to the progress of the project came up during the 30-minute talks.” Yun has been made CMD at a time when the project is facing renewed protest from the locals over land acquisition. Besides, the renewal of the MoU has also been delayed because of the contentious swapping issue. The original MoU between the Government and the Posco-India lapsed on June 21, 2010. Though more than a year had already passed, both the Orissa government and the Posco-India have failed to renew the agreement. Sources, however, maintained that the South Korean company has agreed to delete the swapping clause (export) but wants the facility within the country. Meanwhile, the activities at the proposed plant site, where the Government has already acquired about 2,000 acres of the land for setting up the Posco project, came to a grinding halt due to opposition from the locals.
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