- AM/NS India has announced plans to invest Rs 35,000 crore to increase its steelmaking capacity at Hazira from 9.6 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 15.6 MTPA.
NE BUSINESS BUREAU
HAZIRA (SURAT), MARCH 1
Steel major ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India’s) on Monday announced that the public hearing of the company’s expansion project in Hazira has been postponed following a request by AM/NS India.
AM/NS India has announced plans to invest Rs 35,000 crore to increase its steelmaking capacity at Hazira from 9.6 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 15.6 MTPA.
The public hearing was scheduled for March 4 based on the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report prepared in compliance with the Terms of Reference received from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC).
However, while reviewing AM/NS India’s Environment Clearance application for the modification project on February 11, the chairman of the 53rd Expert Appraisal Committee meeting suggested that the terms of reference of the upstream expansion also be amended for project configuration.
“In view of the same, we are applying for amending the terms of reference for the required project configuration changes to meet the EAC’s requirements. The draft EIA report will also be required to be updated. The public hearing should be conducted for the draft EIA report prepared based on the final terms of reference. Hence, we requested the Gujarat Pollution Control Board and Surat district collector to postpone the scheduled public hearing, which they have accepted,” said Anil Matoo, Head of Human Resources, Industrial Relations, and Administration at AM/NS India.
AM/NS India will submit the revised public hearing application once it receives the amendment of terms of reference from the Ministry and the revised draft EIA report.
