Paswan to flag off NMDC plant at Bastar

National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), country's biggest iron ore producer and exporter, will invest about Rs 12,000 crore to set up a 3-million tonnes per annum (mtpa) integrated steel plant in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh.

According to senior state government officials, Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers and Steel Ram Vilas Paswan and Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Raman Singh will lay the foundation stone for the proposed Integrated Steel Plant at Nagarnar on Wednesday at 1.30 p.m.

This will be the third foundation stone for the proposed project of NMDC in Nagarnaar—about 20 kms from the district headquarters of Bastar-- where the state government had acquired 403 hectares of land for the company in early 1990’s.

The first foundation stone was laid for the plant with the inception of the project while the second was laid in September 2003 by then deputy prime minister L K Advani for a plant that would have been based on Romelt technology.

The project came under the scanner of state government when the company backed out to set up a steel plant and proposed to set up a sponge iron unit citing increase in the cost of Romelt technology as one of the reasons.

However, the state government raised strong objection and asked the company to set up steel plant for which the land was acquired.

The senior company officials met the chief minister in the first week of August and informed that the NMDC would set up a 3-mtpa integrated steel plant.