Rourkela Puts Fertiliser Plant Joint Venture Bids On Hold

The hive-off of the fertiliser plant was scheduled for this year. SAIL has not assessed the plant as yet.

A recent meeting with the Citu union held in the city with regard to the captive power plant (CPP) divestment in Durgapur, however, seems to have yielded positive results. SAIL officials said, "We are very hopeful". The matter is expected to be resolved within a couple of months.

The divestment of SAIL's CPP in Rourkela, Durgapur and Bokaro, the fertiliser plant in Rourkela, Salem Steel Plant and Indian Iron and Steel Co Ltd are part of the company's first phase of business restructuring.

While NTPC succeeded in completing due diligence of the divestment in CPP in Rourkela and Bokaro, efforts to carry out the same in Durgapur was stalled by the Citu-affiliated trade union. The proposal, however, has received the nod from both Aituc and Intuc unions.

One of the main clauses put forward by Citu is that there should be retrenchment in workforce and the top management at SAIL is said to have agreed to this.

SAIL has assured the employees that there will be no change in the financial status of the employees, though the terms and conditions are yet to be discussed with NTPC. The current employee strength of the CPP in Durgapur is 700.

For the valuation of the CPPs, SAIL has reassessed the assets of its power plants at Rs 900 crore. After revaluation of the assets, SAIL plans to fetch around Rs 700-750 crore upfront from the divestment.

The marketing department of the Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP), in the meantime, recorded total sales to the tune of Rs 449 crore in the last fiscal compared with Rs 286 crore achieved in the previous fiscal, a growth of 57 per cent.

The sales include the secondary products sale to the tune of Rs 265 crore, surpassing the previous year's figure of Rs 240 crore. The sale of steel scrap at Rs 174 crore recorded a growth of 9.43 per cent. The blast furnace granulated slag sales were approximately 2,77,870 tonne totaling Rs 7.01 crore, almost 15 per cent more than the previous year's figure of 9.43 per cent.