Ballari: World’s largest steelmaker Arcelor Mittal has entered into a pact with Karnataka government for setting up a 6 million tonnes (MT) steel plant with a captive 750 MW power plant at an estimated investment of $6.5 billion at Kuditini in Bellary.

“In view of excess capacity of steel world-wide and uncertainty in iron ore availability locally, the company is also exploring the possibility of utilizing the land in Karnataka for the establishment of a solar farm for generating solar energy,” the global steel giant has said in its latest report.

ArcelorMittal India has received possession certificates for 2,659 acres of private land following the acquisition of 1,827 acres and 832 acres in December 2011 and October 2012, respectively. A balance of 136.33 acres owned by the Karnataka government is being processed for allocation, it said. “In this regard, the company has sought the state government’s permission to set up a solar farm of up to 600 MW.

The state government is considering ArcelorMittal’s proposal and the company is hopeful of receiving a favourable response to the proposal,” it said.Setting up of the solar park will contribute to the mitigation of Karnataka’s power woes and participation in the National Solar Energy mission of the government of India.

After failing for over a decade to set up plants at Odisha and Jharkhand, ArcelorMittal had signed the pact with Karnataka government in June 2010 for the plant but the same is yet to take off.

PTI Inputs