Orissa mineral reserves in 35,000 sq km forest area

About 35,000 square kilometer forest area in the state had mineral reserves and out of it preliminary exploration has been taken up in 31,000 square km and detail exploration work in 485 square km area, steel and mines minister Raghunath Mohanty told the state assembly.

He said, the total geographical area of the state is 1, 55,707 square km and it includes 58,137 square km categorized as forest land.

On another question, he said, out of scores of steel projects proposed in the state, thirty two steel plants have started partial or full production. Of these active plants, while 28 companies had signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state government, there are 4 non-MoU companies.

Among the non-MoU companies, making steel in the state with a combined installed capacity of 3.71 million tonne per annum (mtpa), Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) has a capacity of 1.9 mtpa and Nilachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL) has an installed capacity of 1.2 mtpa. Similarly, the state-owned IDCOL Kalinga Iron Works has an installed capacity of 0.15 mtpa and Mid-East Integrated Steel Ltd (0.46 mtpa).

On the other hand, 28 MoU signing companies have attained of 4.27 mtpa steel and 0.64 mtpa blast furnace (MBF) capacity. Besides, 108 sponge iron units, which have come up in the state in recent years, have a combined capacity of 33,440 tonne per day (TPD). Overall steel making capacity in the state has reached 8.61 mtpa as reported by the companies, the minister added.

Mohanty said, sponge iron and steel plants generate revenue for the state in the form of VAT. According to the information provided by the companies 81 companies paid Rs 128.17 crore VAT during 2008-09. Similarly, these companies created 20,760 direct and 22,054 indirect employment opportunities.