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Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has asked the West Bengal Government to look into various land-related issues over some of its proposed and conceived projects in the State.
Among the SAIL projects that hit the land issues, including encroachments, are the capacity doubling of the Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP) and the Ramnagar colliery.
Two other joint venture proposals – one for wagon building and the other for railway components– are also stuck due to land related problems.
CS Verma, CMD of SAIL, and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee spoke of public sector company’s potential investments in the State in the last two days at the Bengal Global Business Summit. But none talked about the individual projects and the hurdles in their implementation.
According to a SAIL draft plan, yet to be approved by its board, DSP would see doubling of its capacity in the next five years. The ambitious plan talks about tripling benchmark hot metal production in 10 years. However, DSP has significant encroachment issues threatening any major expansion.
At this 2.1 million tonne (hot metal) plant, SAIL is currently implementing a ₹2,875-crore project for a 1-mt medium structural mill and 0.75-mt bloom cum round caster.
The delayed project may be commissioned early next fiscal, increasing the plant’s saleable steel output to 2.12 mt from 1.6 mt.
The ₹17,000-crore Burnpur plant, however, does not have any investment plan in the immediate future, sources said. This plant may be fully commissioned before the end of this fiscal.
Ramnagar colliery’s expansion plan was also facing encroachment problem. The wagon joint venture, proposed to be set up on a portion of the IISCO’s Kulti unit land, has stumbled on to hurdles related to land lease and tax arrears.
A railway component-manufacturing unit, which SAIL plans to build through a joint venture with Burn Standard, also got bogged down on land issues.
Yet another joint venture with Kobe of Japan, however, does not foresee any land issue as it would be housed in the alloy steel unit of SAIL.
The partners are slow-pedalling this project for the time being because of the depressed global steel market.
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