Construction work on the Rs 1,200-crore titanium dioxide plant to be developed by Kolkata-based Saraf Agencies Private Limited (SAPL) near Chhatrapur in south Odisha's Ganjam district is expected to start soon."The government has already accorded permission for starting the construction work. We will go ahead after discussions with the district administration," said a senior officer of the company.

 

Meanwhile, Saraf Agencies has talked to the aggrieved land losers and agreed to pay an additional compensation of Rs 40,000 per acre due to delay in start of work.

 

"The company would bear an extra cost of around Rs 80 lakh for the purpose. The amount would be paid to the land-losers after starting of constriction work," the officer said.

 

SAPL had acquired around 230 acres of land, including 199-acres of private land for the project about five years ago. Around 300 people of four villages- Tikiria Berhampur, Kanamana, Chandrapada and Mayipatna had lost their land for the project.

 

The company had offered compensation to the land losers on the basis of prevailing government rate. The land price at that time ranged from Rs 2.25 lakh to Rs 10 lakh per acre.

 

"We have agreed to the company's proposal," said S Reddy, one of the land losers in Tikiria Berhampur.

 

"We want the company to expedite the work," said Bipra Acharya, advisor, Titanium Plant Land Losers' Association.

 

Initially, Saraf Agencies had planned to build the titanium project through a joint venture (JV) with two Russian state owned firms. A special purpose vehicle (SPV) called Titanium Products Private Ltd was formed on January 29, 2008.

 

However, the JV partners had sparred over controversial manner of allotment of land by Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco). Idco had allotted land for the titanium project to Saraf Agencies at Chhatrapur but the Russian partners had opposed it, demanding land allocation in the name of the SPV.

 

Later, Saraf Agencies had volunteered to develop the titanium project on its own and sought approval from the state government to perform ground breaking ceremony.

 

In the first phase, SAPL has decided to produce 10,000 tonne per annum (tpa) of high titanium slag and 6,000 tpa of high purity pig iron. Commercial production from the plant is expected from May 2014.