BHUBANESWAR: Unable to meet the July-end deadline for renewal of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Posco for establishment of the proposed steel plant near Paradip, the State Government on Monday said it was not sure when the exercise would be completed. Minister for Steel and Mines Raghunath Mohanty said the MoU could be renewed only after Posco responded to the queries of the government. The State had sought views of the company on some crucial clauses, including the iron ore swapping during the first week of July. The MoU with the company had lapsed on June 21, 2010. The State is waiting for a response from Posco, he said. This is for the third time that the State Government has missed deadline for renewal of the MoU. The Government had signed the MoU with Posco-India on June 22, 2005, for setting up a 12-million tonne per annum mega greenfield steel plant near Paradip at an investment of ` 52,000 cr. While Mohanty was tight lipped about the reasons behind the delay in submission of response by Posco, sources said the company is not ready to accept the State Government’s proposal to exclude the swapping of iron ore clause which was in the original MoU. “The company may swap certain quantities (not exceeding 30 pc of the total requirement for the Paradip plant annually) of such iron ore which has high alumina content with equal quantity of low alumina content iron ore of equivalent or better iron content imported for blending, in order to produce better quality steel in the Paradip project and conserve energy,” the lapsed MoU said.While according final forest clearance to the Posco project on May 2, Ramesh had advised the State to negotiate and delete the provision for swapping of ore.
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