Aug 25 2005
Plans to invest around Rs 45,000-55,000 crore in two phases spread over nine years.
Tata Steel has decided to set up a second plant in Jharkhand,entailing an investment of Rs 45,000-55,000 crore in two phases spread over nine years.
Under the plan approved by the company’s board today, it will be a greenfield plant with an eventual capacity of 10 million tonnes a year.
The decision follows a meeting between Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda and Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata on August 20.
The first phase of the plant, targeting 5 million tonnes of steel a year, will be completed in four years at a cost of Rs 15,000-20,000 crore. The second phase will consume the subsequent five years and Rs 30,000-35,000 crore to take the total capacity to 10 million tonnes a year.
Communicating the board’s decision in a letter to the Jharkhand chief minister, Tata Steel Managing Director B Muthuraman said, “We will immediately commence a detailed study to identify a suitable location for such a steel plant,the infrastructure to be created, captive raw materials required and the requirement of other facilities and clearances.”
The study is expected to be completed in four weeks, after which the company will submit a formal proposal to the state government. The company would like to sign a formal memorandum of understanding in this respect.
The decision to set up a second plant in Jharkhand comes amid a slew of expansion announcements by Tata Steel, whose target is to increase its total capacity to 15 million tonnes by 2015.
In recent times, it has talked about setting up a 6-million-tonne-a-year plant in Dhubri, Orissa, and a 3-million-tonne-a-year plant in Chhattisgarh.
Besides, the capacity at its Jamshedpur plant, 5 million tonnes a year now, is slated to go up by 2 million tonnes by 2008.