Tata Steel to start construction work in a month

Bhubaneswar: Tata Steel, proposing to set up a Rs 15,400 crore, 6 million ton integrated greenfield steel plant at Kalinganagar in Orissa, hopes to start the construction work of the project within a month.

It has already applied to the state government for mines and has shifted about 700 families out of 1200 families to be displaced by the project in an effort to clear the site for start of work.

'The process of shifting the displaced families is going on and we hope to start the construction of the Kalinganagar plant soon', B Muthuraman, managing director, Tata Steel said.

Talking to the media after meeting the Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik in the state secretariat, Muthuraman said, progress of the Kalinganagar project figured during the discussion with Patnaik.

Asked about the exact time for starting the work, Muthuraman said that it could be within a month. The company has sought the assistance of the Orissa government in this regard.

Recently, H M Nerurkar, chief operating officer (COO) of Tata Steel, had stated that the company intends to start the construction work soon.

Though the company has already placed orders worth Rs 6000 crore for the Kalinganagar project, it has not been able to start the construction due to the resistance of local tribals.

The state government is reported to have assured the company to provide required assistance to start the project as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, the company is started offsite steel fabrication for hot strip mills in an area leased out from the state owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) near Jajpur Road to reduce the construction time for the project. Besides, the construction of the incoming material section yard is almost complete, company sources said.

The Tata Steel managing director said, the company has applied for the mines to the Orissa government for meeting the iron ore requirement of its Kalinganagar project.

Iron ore requirement for the plant in two phases are assessed at about 250 million tonnes over a period of 25 years.

Though Muthuraman did not reveal the mines for which the company has applied, official sources said, it has applied for the mining lease (ML) of Mankadanachha iron ore reserve in Keonjhar district.

Both the state and Union governments had assured the company to look into the issue of mining lease, environmental clearance and infrastructure development during a review meeting of mega-steel units chaired by Union steel secretary R S Pandey.