Jindal Steel and Power Ltd plans to double steel-making capacity at its wholly-owned subsidiary Shahdeed Iron and Steel in Oman at an estimated investment of around $2 billion.
“We are currently doing a feasibility study for adding a 2.5-million-tonne-per-annum blast furnace, which would double our capacity in Shahdeed. We will also build a coke oven plant at the plant. The estimated investment for the expansion project should be around $2 billion,” said Ravi Uppal, Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer, JSPL.
Uppal said the timeline for the expansion is not yet set as the company is still doing the feasibility study of the project.
“The Oman Government is very co-operative in terms of giving the approvals. Once we are ready at our end, it should not take much time to go ahead with the project,” he said.
$725-mn term loan
Meanwhile, the group has also signed a term loan facility of $725 million (around ₹4,440 crore) with Bank Muscat for Shahdeed Iron and Steel.
“The facility was oversubscribed with commitments in excess of $855 million as against the requirement of $725 million,” said Naveen Jindal, Chairman of JSPL.
Bank Muscat along with a consortium of 11 banks arranged the facility for Shahdeed. The consortium of banks includes Bank Muscat, Qatar National Bank S.A.Q, Qatar National Bank, National Bank of Oman, Al Khalij Commercial Bank, Bank Dhofar, Bank Sohar, Ahli United Bank, Bahrain, Ahli Bank Oman, State Bank of India-Dubai and State Bank of India-Oman.