Shiva Cement signs pact with Orissa for Rs 800 cr expansion plan

The state industries department, on Wednesday, entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Shiva Cement Ltd for capacity expansion of cement plant at Kutra (Sundergarh) and split grinding unit at Jajpur. The expansion plan involves an investment of Rs 800 crore.

The company intends to scale up the capacity of the Kutra cement unit from 0.132 million tonne per annum (mtpa) to one mtpa and raise capacity of the split grinding unit near Jajpur from one mtpa in Phase-I to 2.6 mtpa in the second phase.

The MoU was signed between T Ramachandru, principal secretary (industries), Orissa government and Bimal Kumar Mangaraj, director, Shiva Cement in the presence of minister for industries and steel & mines, Raghunath Mohanty.

"The state has created a capacity of 12 mtpa in the cement sector of which the actual production is in the range of 5-6 mtpa. There are three cement plants operational in the state and there is scope for cement production of up to 30 mtpa. Shiva Cement has agreed to follow the employment norms as stipulated in the 10th meeting of the High Level Clearance Authority”, said Mohanty.

The employment clause makes it mandatory for the industries setting up their projects in the state to reserve 90 per cent jobs in the unskilled and semi-skilled category, up to 60 per cent in skilled category and 30 per cent for the supervisory and managerial cadre while giving them the option to fill up the post of senior executives from the open market.