South Korean steel maker Posco has received environment clearance for its Rs 52,000 crore rupees steel plant in Odisha.

Environment Minister M Veerappa Moily told a news agency that an eight-year wait for the project to get off the ground.

The approval comes a week ahead of South Korean President Park Geun Hye's visit to India.

The clearance will pave the way for Posco to build the steel plant with an annual production capacity of 12 million
tons.

The POSCO project, the largest foreign direct investment in India, has languished since 2005 due to problems related to environmental clearance and land procurement.