Dastur & Co to conduct study for mega steel projects

JSPL and Bhushan Steel present capacity expansion plans before steel task force

The Orissa government has roped in noted consultant M N Dastur and Co to conduct a benchmarking study for land and water requirement for steel players who aim to set up steel plants with a capacity of beyond six million tonne per annum (mtpa) or raise capacity of their proposed projects beyond six mtpa.

The Kolkata-based consultant will make an accurate assessment of the land and water requirement of such steel projects, said Manoj Ahuja, the state steel and mines secretary.

The decision to appoint a consultant for conducting the said study was taken at a high-level meeting of the state task force chaired by Ahuja. C J Venugopal, chairman and managing director of the state government owned Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Ltd (Ipicol) and additional secretary (steel and mines) Manoranjan Pattnaik were present at the meeting.

 

This proposal comes in the backdrop filing of proposals by Jindal Steel & Power Limited (JSPL) and Bhushan Steel Limited to expand their respective capacities.

While JSPL has proposed to scale up its proposed steel plant capacity from six mtpa to 12.5 mtpa, Bhushan Power & Steel intends to expand from three mtpa to nine mtpa. Both these proposals came up at today's meeting of the task force on steel.

Following the report of M N Dastur and Company on land and water requirement for the mega steel plants, the task force will recommend these two cases of capacity expansion to the High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA).

While JSPL had inked an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the Orissa government in November 2005 for setting up a six mtpa steel plant at Angul a a cost of Rs 22,420 crore, Bhushan Power & Steel had signed an MoU in May 2002 for setting up a three mtpa at Lapanga at an investment of Rs 3,500 crore.

Meanwhile, the state steel and mines department has roped in another consultant Mecon Limited to decide on the technological mix for steel making.

"We have asked Mecon to submit its report on the technological mix for steel making within two months”, said Ahuja.

A high level committee headed by the Development Commissioner of the state government had suggested the adoption of normal kiln route for steel industries with an envisaged capacity of up to 1 million tonne and gas based route for units with a production capacity of 1 million to 3 million tonne per annum.

Similarly, DRI (Direct Route Iron) route has been suggested for units with capacity of more than 3 million tonne per annum.

The limit on various routes for steel production has been suggested to minimize the environmental pollution while making maximum use of the available coal in the state which is qualitatively inferior, sources said. The committee had sent its recommendations to the industries department.

The State Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA), at its 29th meeting in August last year, had taken a decision to constitute a committee to suggest the technological mix for minimizing the environmental pollution in the steel units particularly those producing sponge iron.

The task force on steel also approved six pelletisation projects, including one new project in Mayurbhanj district and other projects including capacity expansion and value addition of existing projects in Keonjhar and Sundergarh districts.

“The pelletisation projects, being water intensive projects, the water resources department has been requested to make an assessment of water availability for these projects. It has also been decided that industries would not be allowed to use ground water in areas where hard rock is present”, Ahuja stated.