A day after POSCO dropped a 6 mt/year Steel Plant project in Karnataka, another Steel giant ArcelorMittal has decided to scrap its ambitious Rs 40,000 crore Steel Plant in Odisha, citing inordinate delay in implementation. The project would have produced 12 million of tonnes of steel per year.

The MoU for this project in Keonjhar, was signed in December 2006. However, no action was taken in the last seven years to take the project forward. The Odisha Government was blamed for the delay.

Although ArcelorMittal’s decision to pull out from Odisha came as a big setback for Naveen Patnaik government, it can still heave a sigh of relief that it has already completed the land acquisition for mega POSCO project in Jagatsinghpur district, which is worth Rs 52,000 crore and will produce 12 million tonne steel per annum.