According to local Indian sources, the Jharkhand provincial government has offered 1,000 acres of land for ArcelorMittal's proposed $10 billion integrated steel project in Jharkhand. The local government's offer comes at a time when ArcelorMittal is struggling with problems to acquire private land from local villagers.
Speaking to the media, Arcelor Mittal India's CEO Vijay Bhatnagar stated that the government has offered the land on condition of payment of Rupees 125 million, i.e. 80 percent of the land's value.
Arcelor Mittal would require 11,300 acres for the proposed steel plant in the Torpa-Kamdara blocks of Khunti and Gumla districts. The Jharkhand government owns 1,900 acres of the requisite land.
Mr. Bhatnagar also said that due to the economic slowdown and financial crisis its Indian projects worth $20 billion had been delayed by nearly two years. The company's plan had been to start construction of each of its 12 million mt integrated steel plants in Jharkhand and Orissa by the first half of 2009 and complete the plants by 2012.