Q: It has been more than two years since you signed the MoU for setting up the steel plant in Orissa.How has the progressbeen and are you happy with its pace?

Cho: Initially, it took sometime for the project to take off but now it is progressing well. We have got official clearance for the steel plant and environmental clearances and also got port clearances last month. In some ways, I am not happy with the speed of progress. But with the official clearances trickling in, I am satisfied in some sense. It is difficult to keep to the targets that we had set earlier as we are already behind schedule by almost a year but I am happy that at least the project is on track. All projects in India are showing slow growth and facing the same kind of problems. Considering our scale of operations, we are doing quite well.

Q: The important issues of mining leases and land acquisition are still to be sorted out. Does that frustrate you?

Cho: The situation is much better now on both counts than what it was earlier. People in and around Jagatsinghpur are more aware of the project and the benefits that will accrue from it. There are villages which have started coming out in favour of the project openly and that makes a better climate for the project. On the issue of mining leases, preparations are on for the hearing of all the applications and it will take a couple of months. We don’t expect any hurdle in that and expect no further delay in the overall project.

... contd.