Odisha’s biggest integrated steel plant owned by Jindal Steel and Power commissioned

29 May 2017

The Chief Minister said the JSPL plant will boost the industrialisation in the State and play an important role in the development. It gives direct employment to 30,000 people and indirect employment to one lakh people. There are good days ahead for Angul, he added.

“Industries will help develop the financial condition of the State. My vision is to create 30 lakh additional employments by 2025 to bring prosperity to the people. What we are witnessing today is yet another step towards that vision,” he said.

Chairperson of OP Jindal Group Sabitri Jindal presided over the function. Speaking on the occasion, JSPL Chairman Naveen Jindal said when he was 20 years old, his father OP Jindal and late Biju Patnaik had dreamt of setting up one million tonne capacity steel plant in the State. “Today, the Chief Minister and myself have together fulfilled their dream,” he said. He said the plant is unique in many spheres and some of its components are largest either in the world or in the country, besides being one of the most modern plants.

JSPL Chairman Naveen Jindal said the plant was set up at an investment of about Rs 33,000 crore and it would enable the company to overcome its loss in the aftermath of the coal block cancellation.

He said Jindal Steel & Power Limited would start earning and play significant role in the development of the state.

Later he told reporters that production of JSPL would increase substantially with commissioning of the new blast furnace at Angul and the effort would be to make the company debt-free in the next about five years.

Stating that coal block cancellation had badly affected the operations and the company, he said JSPL had to face a tough time during the last three years incurring a loss of Rs 7,000 to Rs 8,000 crore.

With production from the new plant, the company would start repaying debts as there was good demand for steel and the government had also taken initiatives to strengthen infrastructure, Jindal said.

Stating that interest payment for the company was to the tune of Rs 200 crore per month, he said banks were cooperative and clearance of debts would be easier now.

Steel production at Angul would be around 1.5 lakh tonnes next month, 2 lakh tonnes in July and 3 lakh tonnes per month from October this year, he said adding from March, 2018 the production would touch 4 lakh tonnnes per month.

The plant with its 4,554 cubic meter blast furnace will make Odisha the fourth largest steel maker in the country. With this, JSPL also becomes the first company to complete this mega steel project as per its commitment in the memorandum of understanding with the government of Odisha.

The company had installed two mtpa steelmaking capacity at its Angul steel complex in 2015 with Coal Gasification – DRI route, which is being used for the first time in the world. Later it further added four mtpa steelmaking capacity.

The Angul steel complex has also four mtpa sinter plant, two mtpa coke oven, three mtpa steel melting shop, 1.2 mtpa plate mill, 1.4 mtpa bar mill and a 810 mw captive power plant.

In 2005, JSPL signed an MoU with the Odisha government to build the mega steel plant. JSPL’s overall capacity of steel production has been enhanced to 10.75 mtpa.

Source – Indianexpress