In a major push to the mines and mineral sector of the state, Vedanta Group, which is spearheaded by Anil Agarwal, has lined up a Rs.10,000 crore investment plan for Jharkhand. This includes an iron ore mining project and an integrated steel plant, a move that marks its entry into steel sector. It will also complete Vedanta's metals portfolio that includes aluminum, zinc, copper, and lead. Sharing his plans for the state, Agarwal said, Jharkhand in particular, is endowed with some of the best quality iron ore reserves and they have to be exploited with due forest and environment safeguards. His company wants to set up a bigger steel plant in Jharkhand but will start with an integrated plant of 1 million ton hot metal capacity at Manoharpur. For this, an MoU had been signed with the state government in May 2016. At the initial stages, investment on the projects is likely to be around Rs.2,500 crore. Out of 437 acres required for the steel plant, 110 acres have already been acquired and the government is in the process of allotting 41 acres of land it owns for the purpose, he added.
