Sterlite To Set Up Steel Plant In Orissa

Sterlite to set up steel plant in Orissa

Prafulla Das Bhubaneswar, Financial Times

Aug. 25 2004

The Sterlite Group, promoter of the London Stock Exchange-listed Vedanta Resources Plc, has decided to set up a five million-tonne steel plant in Keonjhar district of Orissa at an approximate cost of Rs 12,500 crore. Sterlite Iron and Steel Co Ltd, a company specially promoted for the purpose by the Sterlite Group and the Vedanta Resources Plc, will implement the proposed steel project. The project will generate direct and indirect employment for about 8,000 persons.

The details of the project were discussed at a high-level meeting between the Chairman of the Sterlite Group, Mr Anil Agarwal, and the Chief Minister, Mr Naveen Patnaik, at the State Secretariat here late on Tuesday evening. Senior officials of the company as well as top officials of the State Government attended the meeting.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the steel project is likely to be signed between the State Government and the company within a month, according to company officials.

The company had first submitted the project proposal to the Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Ltd (IPICOL), which has already referred the case to Orissa Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) to initiate the land acquisition process. The company has submitted a proposal seeking allotment of approximately 3,500 acres of land for the project.

The steel plant project will be implemented in two phases - two million tonne capacity in the first phase and three million tones in the second. The first phase is likely to be completed by 2007 and the second phase by 2009.

The Chief Minister has agreed to provide necessary support to the greenfield project and directed the Government officials concerned to expedite the framework of mutual co-operation for the project. The Vedanta Group is promoting a 1.4 million-tonne alumina project at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district of the State at a cost of Rs 3,500 crore.

The project is in an advanced stage of implementation and likely to be commissioned by 2006. The progress of the alumina project was reviewed on the Tuesday's meeting.

Sterlite Group is the third major company to approach the Orissa Government for setting up a steel plant in the State in less than a fortnight. Earlier, the South Korean steel maker Posco and Australian mining major BHP Billiton had jointly the approached the State Government to set up a 10-million-tonne steel project either at Duburi in Jajpur district or Dhamra in Bhadrak district.

The Posco-Billiton combine was followed by Tata Steel for setting up of a six million-tonne steel plant at Duburi with an investment of Rs 8,000 crore. Besides, a few other Indian companies are likely to sign MoUs with the State Government shortly to set up steel plants in the State.