Learning from the experience of the past years, the Karnataka government has decided not to roll out the red carpet for promoters of any new iron and steel projects.

None of the projects proposed by steel giants at the Global Investors Meet 2010 have been implemented to this day.

The State government has, therefore, identified 14 key sectors, including aerospace, precision engineering, tourism and infrastructure, for investments in GIM-2012.

Addressing a press conference, Industries Minister Murgesh Nirani said there was no scope for additional steel plants as the stock of iron ore supplies were barely sufficient to meet the requirements of the existing steel plants.

GIM-2010 had witnessed the State government sign MoUs with large steel companies like ArcelorMittal, Posco, Tata Metaliks, JSW, NMDC, among others, for setting up steel plants with a total capacity of 45 million tonne per annum at a combined investment of Rs 2.53 lakh crore. The requirement of iron ore for these projects alone is around 90 million tonnes. Most of these projects are yet to take off.

The proposal to acquire a plot measuring 3,382 acres at Halligudi in Mundargi taluk of Gadag district for Posco was met with stiff resistance from farmers. Nirani said Chief Minister D V?Sadananda Gowda will decide on providing alternative land to Posco.

ArcelorMittal withdrew its application for captive iron ore mining lease citing poor quality of ore.

The government had identified Donimalai region in Bellary district for allocating iron ore mine to the company.

In addition, the Supreme Court had imposed a ban on all mining activities in the iron ore districts of Bellary, Chitradurga and Tumkur last year resulting in short supply of iron ore.

In a recent order, the apex court, based on a recommendation of the Central?Empowered Committee (CEC), set a cap of 30 million tonne a year on iron ore extraction. “Given the present scenario, it will not be feasible to sanction new iron and steel projects”, the minister said.

Theme park

Sentosa, which runs the famous Sentosa Island in?Singapore, has expressed interest to develop a theme park near Mangalore, the minister said. While the exact location of the theme park is yet to be finalised, the project has an investment potential of at least Rs 250 crore, he said.

Ascendas, a Government of Singapore organisation, which has established ITPL?in Bangalore, has shown interest in investing in infrastructure and port development.

A consortium of Singapore-based companies have shown interest to establish an integrated township in one of the districts of North Karnataka. These proposals are likely to take a final shape during the two-day GIM-2012 scheduled be held at Bangalore International?Exhibition Centre from June 7.
The government is anticipating a total investment of Rs five lakh crore during the meet.

Japanese township

Japanese companies have expressed interest in setting up a township exclusively for Japanese expats. The government has offered 500 acres of land at Vemgal in Kolar for the township, he said.

Nirani also said that during his recent visit to Japan to invite investors for the GIM, an MoU was signed with Mizuho Corporate Bank to establish the bank’s branch in Bangalore to meet the financial needs of the Japanese.

He also said Toyota is likely to sign an MoU to invest Rs1,000 crore for setting up a car engine manufacturing plant in Kolar.