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India’s top court clears Posco, Vedanta projects in key rulings
Posted by Yogesh on Saturday, 9 August, 2008
NEW DELHI (Thomson Financial) – India’s top court on Friday cleared South Korean steel giant Posco’s plan for a $12 billion plant in a controversial case seen pitting farmers’ interests against growing industrial development.
In another key case viewed as a test of tribal rights, the court approved British mining company Vedanta Resources’ proposal to mine bauxite on land held sacred by locals to feed a $900 million aluminium refinery.
The plant to be built by Posco, Asia’s top steel producer, in the resource-rich eastern coastal state of Orissa would be the biggest foreign direct investment in India since it launched market reforms in 1991.
The plant, which aims to create 18,000 jobs in a poverty-ridden part of the country over the next decade, has stirred violent protests by farmers objecting to loss of their land.
In both rulings, the court imposed environmental and compensation conditions but the stipulations did not satisfy the projects’ opponents. Source CNBC
