Jindal Steel to sign MoU for CTL project this year

After successfully setting up a steel plant in Odisha's Angul district, Naveen Jindal-led Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) today said it has been ready to sign an MoU with the state government for setting up a Rs 45,000-crore coal-to-liquid (CTL) plant by end of this year.

"After signing the MoU, the company is prepared to start work on the CTL project next year," JSPL Executive Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Naveen Jindal told reporters after meeting Chief Secretary BK Patnaik here.

Stating that JSPL was getting enough cooperation from the local people, Jindal said it had identified a barren land to house the company's proposed CTL plant, first of its kind in the country. JSPL, he said, would acquire land with help of the local people, he said.

Strategic Environment Safety measures would be adopted for the CTL project, he said adding the company was expecting environment clearance to the project by end of this year. "We will produce 80,000 barrel of liquid petroleum products from the proposed CTL project," he said.

Besides diesel, petrol and kerosene oil, the project was aiming to produce aviation fuel also from its proposed CTL plant at Angul, he said.

The JSPL Vice-Chairman and Managing Director said the company had already been allocated a coal block for the purpose of raw material in the proposed CTL plant.

He said JSPL's Angul plant had been manufacturing 5 meter sheet, first of its kind in the country. This is the second such proposal for setting up a CTL plant in the state. Earlier, the Tata Group, in collaboration with Sasol of South Africa, had evinced interest in setting up a similar coal-to-liquid plant in Odisha.