The Steel Ministry has approved laying a pipeline to carry slurry to the proposed steel plant

A week after receiving environmental clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF), the upcoming Arecelor Mittal Nippon Steel’s project at Anakapelle has got a shot in the arm from the Ministry of Steel.

The Steel Ministry has approved laying a pipeline to carry slurry to the proposed steel plant. It invoked the Petroleum and Minerals Pipeline (Acquisition of Right of User in Land) Act, 1962, providing the right of way for laying a pipeline to transport iron ore slurry from Chhattisgarh to Anakapalle via Malkangiri (Odisha). 

The Act designates a specific authority to approve the right-of-way for each area through which this pipeline will pass. 

“This means that the Ministry has given its go-ahead for the slurry pipeline,” a source in the State government has said.

The gazette notification authorises revenue officers concerned in Dantewada, Sukma (Chhattisgarh), Malkangiri (Odisha), Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli, and Alluri Sitaram Raju (Andhra Pradesh) districts.

This will be followed by a notification of land acquisition, a survey of the affected land, a public hearing, and recommendations to the government.

“This slurry pipeline would create an environmentally friendly pathway for the transportation of iron ore, without relying on road transportation and railway lines, which is currently in vogue. Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had requested this approval from Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent meetings,” he said. 

This approval clears the way for the development of the 17 MTPA project (8.2 MTPA in the first phase) to be established in Anakapalle, Andhra Pradesh.

Source: thehindubusinessline.com