Ahead of proposed meeting on October 23 to review progress of two mega steel projects involving investment of about Rs one lakh crore, Orissa government claimed on Wednesday that both ArcelorMittal and Posco had re-assured they would go ahead with their projects in the state.

"Both Mittal and Posco had given written commitment to state government re-assuring implementation of their plan in Orissa", Steel and Mines Secretary, Ashok Dalwai told newsmen.

Stating that land acquisition for greenfield projects was a problem worldwide, Dalwai said according to law, gram sabha meetings were being held in proposed sites of Mittal and Posco in Keonjhar and Jagatsinghpur districts respectively.

Asked what prompted the government to seek written assurance from the steel majors, he said they came up with the idea because of confusing media reports on possible pullout from Orissa.

Though both the companies had signed MoUs with the state government for over three years, they had been unable to acquire land for the purpose. While Posco-India signed MoU on June 22, 2005, ArcellotMittal India Ltd inked it to set up a 12mtpa steel mill on December 22, 2006.

While POSCO project proposed to be set up at an investment of Rs 51,000 crore investent over 4004 acres of land in Jagatsinghpur, the Rs 40,000 crore ArcelorMittal project required 8,000 acres in Keonjhar district.