Central government will decide if South Korean steelmaker POSCO can have preferential access to an iron ore mine for its planned $12 billion steel plant, a top court said, providing a boost to the troubled project billed as the country's largest foreign direct investment (FDI).

POSCO, the world's fourth-largest steel producer, has waited eight years to get necessary clearances, land and an iron ore mining licence to start work on the plant in eastern Odisha state slated to have a capacity of 12 million tonnes a year.