SAIL to double Rourkela capacity as current expansion ends

Company plans for RSP's further expansion to 10.8 million tonnes per annum

SAIL today said it is close to completing a Rs 12,000 crore expansion plan at its Rourkela Steel Plant in Odisha to 4.5 million tonnes per annum and will more than double capacity at the facility in the next phase.

"We have ambitious plans for RSP's further expansion to 10.8 million tonnes per annum as part of SAIL's vision to attain a capacity of 50 million tonnes per annum hot metal by 2025," Steel Authority of India (SAIL) said in a statement.

"Some of the schemes under this future expansion plan like the 3 million tonne per annum hot strip mill and the beneficiation and pelletisation plant have already been tendered out," the state-owned company said.

SAIL's statement comes after it started operating two major modernisation units - a basic oxygen furnace (BOF) and a plate mill - in the plant earlier in the day at a total cost of Rs 12,000 crore.

"With commencement of production in the new 150 tonnes BOF and 1 million tonne per annum plate mill, all the major facilities under the modernisation and expansion programme at the unit have been operationalised," SAIL said.

Following the expansion, the hot metal production capacity at the Rourkela Steel Plant will go up to 4.5 million tonnes per annum from 2 million tonnes now.