Steel projects to be reviewed later this month

NEW DELHI: An inter-ministerial panel is slated to meet during the later part of this month to solve the big-ticket investment issues in the steel sector.

The group will be having participation from the ministries of steel, coal, mines, environment, railways and shipping among others.

Moreover, it would be discussing issues consisting delays in environment and forest nods and mining leases, iron ore and coal linkages and problems in land acquisition, apart from other regulatory hurdles.

Reports suggest that officials from infrastructure ministries and also representatives from important steel companies such as SAIL, RINL, Monnet Ispat, Jindal Steel, Bhushan Steel and Posco are also expected to take part in the meeting.

The steel ministry is worried about the delays in projects as it won't help in meeting the estimated demand of 145 million tonnes by 2015-16.

Few of the mega projects, consisting Rs 1.8-lakh crore ventures by ArcelorMittal and Posco, have failed to take off for the past six-seven years.