Phase I of DSP expansion to go onstream in 2yrs

The first phase of expansion at Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP) of Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) will go onstream in October 2011.

V Shyamsundar, managing director, DSP, said that the expansion would take DSP’s saleable steel capacity from the current level of 1.6 million tonnes to 2.12 million tonnes. The investment in the first phase was in the region of Rs 3,000 crore.

The slowdown in the economy has resulted in some cost savings for the unit’s expansion. Shyamsundar said, for some of the orders the unit managed cost reduction of around 20 per cent.

DSP was adopting a two-pronged strategy. On the one hand it was expanding capacity and on the other working on cost reduction on the raw material side. “We are de-bottlenecking on the raw material side,” he said.

DSP’s enterprise resource planning system would go live tomorrow. Shyamsundar said, it would boost the overall efficiency of the organization and enhance the cost optimization measures in achieving a cost reduction of about Rs 3,000 per tonne of saleable steel.

The second phase of expansion for DSP was still on the drawing board. The first phase would be commissioned progressively from October 2011 and would be completed by December 2012.