Environment clearance to projects worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore so far: Moily

Environment Minister M Veerappa Moily said on Sunday that he has cleared projects worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore since he took over the additional charge of the ministry last month.

Key approvals accorded include the one for Posco's $12-billion steel plant in Odisha.

Mr Moily, who took over the additional portfolio last month from Jayanti Natarajan, plans to clear the backlog before end of the month.

"I have cleared projects worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore since taking over," he told reporters here.

The minister said while the Posco project was approved on January 7, Vedanta's Niyamgiri project has been rejected because if opposition to it by the majority of village bodies.

South Korean giant Posco has received environmental clearance to build a Rs 52,000-crore steel plant in Odisha, ending eight years of wait for a project that would involve the largest ever foreign direct investment in India.

The clearance is conditional to Posco spending on "social commitments", which will raise the project cost by $600 million to $12.6 billion.

The approval came after the steel plant was delinked from the port project. The nod will pave the way for Posco to build a steel plant with an annual capacity of 12 million tonnes.

In Vedanta's case, the ministry had refused the next stage forest clearance to Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and Vedanta group firm Sterlite's mining project in Niyamgiri Hills area in Lanjigarh, Kalahandi and Rayagada districts, accepting the Forest Advisory Committee's (FAC) recommendation for withdrawal of the clearance.

The Supreme Court had stalled Vedanta Group's bauxite mining in Odisha until gram sabhas of Rayagada and Kalahandi districts in the state gave clearances.

Mr Moily said he has cleared more then 70-80 projects and the remaining will be approved before month-end.

"I believe that no approval, after following the due process of law, should be kept pending for even a day," he
said.