JSW Bengal Steel to start work in six months

JSW Steel-promoted JSW Bengal Steel will begin construction work at its Salboni plant in West Bengal within six months, JSW group Chairman Sajjan Jindal said.

"I have come to meet Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to review the project which is already delayed by 18 months. We have also discussed the Maoist and Naxalite problem existing in the region," Jindal told reporters here today.

He said the CM had assured that the state government would take adequate security measures to ensure that the project takes off.

Jindal said the delay had taken place primarily due to economic slowdown.

He said that work on the first phases of the steel and 800-Mw plant would start concurrently. In the first phase, the steel plant would have a capacity of 3 million tonnes involving a cost of Rs 12,000 crore.

Responding to a query, Jindal said the extent of Japan's JFE holdings' equity participation in the project had not been decided as of yet.

"It could be in the range of between 26 per cent to 40 per cent," he said adding that financial closure of the project was achieved two years ago.