Hitachi To Be Main Tech Supplier For Rs 1600-Crore Cr Mill

Tata Steel has signed up Japanese major Hitachi as the principal technology supplier for its Rs 1,600-crore cold rolling (CR) complex at Jamshedpur. The date for commissioning the CR mill has been set at June 2, 2000, and the civil and structural work has already started at the project site.

The Hitachi bid had originally been made for Tata Steels 1.2 million tonne capacity CR unit at Gopalpur, Orissa. The bid had been made jointly with another Japanese major, Mitsui. With the temporary shelving of the Gopalpur project in favour of a similar project at Jamshedpur, the bids were transferred to Jamshedpur.

 

Speaking to Business Standard, Jamshed J Irani, managing director, Tata Steel, said, The Japanese bid was made jointly by Hitachi and Mitsui and remains that way, but the official representative of the contract for the CR mill will be Hitachi.

Hitachi will be the supplier for the core steel making process or the tandem mill while other sub-processes have been contracted out to different parties.

With the commissioning of the CR mill Tata Steel plans to make inroads into the domestic cold rolling products segment, which includes the automotive and white goods sectors.

The basic strategy is to replace the CR imports in the market with our products, said Irani.

The project site for the proposed CR mill at Jamshedpur is located next to the hot strip mill. The CR mill is estimated to have a capacity of 1.2 million tonne per year and is likely to have a workforce of 1000 employees. Irani added the commissioning of the new unit would also set off a series of ancillary industries in the area and would therefore generate more employment.

Apart from the Hitachi-Mitsui bid the other bidders for the proposed Gopalpur project included the German consortium SMS & Affiliates. The German bid was represented by SMS India, the 59 per cent owned subsidiary of SMS Schloemann Siemag of Germany, which is part of the German consortium. Hitachi has a worldwide presence in the field of CR products and is believed to have also expressed interest in bidding for other units which were slated to come up as part of Tata Steels proposed 10 million tonne per annum integrated steel project at Gopalpur.

The implementation period of the CR project from the date of contract to the start of production has been pegged approximately at three years. The contract for technology supply also implies expertise consultancy services apart from the actual setting up of the mill. The technological process for the CR mill was finalised by Nippon Steel of Japan which had been appointed as technology consultant for the Gopalpur project initially but was later transferred to Jamshedpur.

The bids for the project were invited on the basis of the technology report presented by Nippon Steel.

Tisco managing director, Jamshed J Irani, yesterday said work on the proposed 10-million tonne integrated shore-based steel plant at Gopalpur, Orissa, would not begin before 2003-04. Irani said progress of the proposed steel project depends almost entirely on the development of the all-weather port which is being promoted by the state government.

The Orissa government, is expected to finalise a foreign party for developing the port in May, this year. Construction of the port itself is expected to begin only at the end of the current fiscal.

The final plant will be quite different from the one that was originally envisaged but Gopalpur will definitely continue to have priority in Tata Steels expansion plan, Irani said. The company has so far acquired 3,200 acres of land at Gopalpur and rehabilitated 382 families out of the plant site area. Tata Steel sees the railway connection crucial for the project to be completed by 2003-04. The state government is believed to have recommended the companys proposal for iron ore mining lease to the central government.