It looks clear that the Centre mulls to privatise the Vizag Steel Plant, which has been established following a struggle by the people of Andhra Pradesh, and the sacrifices of 32 others. This was unravelled in the Rajya Sabha when the Union Steel Minister gave a written reply to a question posed by MP Vijayasai Reddy. It has been clearly mentioned that in 2018, the officials from POSCO and the Hyundai Steel factory had visited the Vizag Steel Plant. It has also been mentioned in the letter that the representatives of RINL, NMDC and the Ministry of Steel inspected the factory lands. It has also been revealed that POSCO has shown a keen interest in setting up a factory within the lands allocated to Vizag Steel, and a Non-Binding MoU was also inked in this regard in October 2019. As per the MoU, POSCO wished to have at least 50% shareholding and a joint working group for exchange of information. But the pattern for shareholding is yet to be decided.
With the Vizag Employee Unions making it clear that they will not allow the South Korean steelmaker to enter and with rising public outrage over the same, it is believed that the POSCO issue has subsided, and the discussions in this regard have also ended. But now the news about MoU having been inked earlier has come into the public domain following the question raised by RS MP Vijayasai Reddy in Parliament. So, it is clear that the privatization proposal by the central government signals the readiness to implement the agreement.
Now the Government’s intent to privatise the steel plant is in a way similar to selling it, and even tenders from interested private players will soon be floated. Amongst those firms that quote the highest price will have the rights over Vizag Steel Plant. In this context, will POSCO having wished 50% of the shareholding rights bag the rights over the Navaratna plant? Else, will the South Korean firm take part in the bidding process? This is yet to be decided.
