Asia pulse reported that Orissa government is likely to place a report on progress made in the steel sector including INR 51,000 crore POSCO India project in the state at a review meeting to be held at the PMO tomorrow.

Mr Ashok Dalwai Orissa's Steel & Mines Secretary said that "We are ready to attend the review meeting at the PMO tomorrow. He also claimed that 28 companies out of 46 that signed agreements with the state government to produce steel it has already started partial production.”

He said that the government would place the report before the PMO on the progress made in different projects, including the 12 million tonnes per annum POSCO India project proposed to set up near Paradip.

Mr Dalwai said that "Even as only 7 million tones per annum extra steel had been added to the previous steel production, many projects were progressing well to meet the target. He said that Orissa had been asked to attend the review meeting because it was one of the states with enormous potential in steel sector.”

Mr Pradeep Kumar Amat Orissa's Steel & Mines minister said that "Orissa will roughly contribute about 20% of India's steel production by 2020, the total targeted steel production of 290 million tones per annum in India up by 2020, Orissa would produce over 50 million tones per annum by the time. We will certainly meet the target in stipulated time, he adding mega projects like ArcelorMittal Essar, Jindal and others were doing well.”

According to the report, Orissa added only 7 million tones per annum of steel in the past 4 years, though it had signed the MoUs to produce an extra 74.66 million tonnes steel annually with an investment of INR 1,97,025 crore.