Tatas Finalise Bastar Village For 5 Mt Steel Plant

Tatas finalise Bastar village for 5 mt steel plant

Varun Sood, India Press

September 27, 2005

Tata Steel appears to have zeroed in on Salepal village in the Bastar district of Chhattisgarh for setting up its 5 million-tonnes per annum steel plant, which according to managing director B Muthuraman, is going to cost Rs12,000 crore.

According to a senior state government official, the application of the company seeking 3,500 acre for the plant and another 2,000 acre for a township is "under review".

For grant of captive iron ore mines, the company has asked for iron ore 'deposit number 1' of the Bailadila range in the Dantewada region of the state.

The iron ore found in the region has iron content averaging 60-68 per cent. The water from Shabri river is going to be the lifeblood for the proposed steel plant and the township.

A Tata Steel spokesperson declined to comment on the development, saying that a "formal proposal by the company is yet to be submitted".

Earlier in June this year, the company had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for setting up a 5 million tonne per annum greenfield integrated steel plant in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.

According to the MoU, the integrated steel plant's first phase will see the installation of 2 million tonne capacity, which is likely to be completed in 48 to 60 months from the date of obtaining all statutory clearances. The second phase will see the addition of the remaining 3 million tonne capacity.

The Dantewada region lies at the southern tip of the state.

There are an estimated 14 identified iron ore deposits in Bailadila range with an approximate quantity of 300 million tonne.

National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) is operating three large mechanised iron ore mines in the region - deposit number 14 (commissioned in the year 1968), deposit number 5 (commissioned in the year 1977) and number 11-c (commissioned in the year 1987).