Tata Steel to invest Rs1 lakh cr for Kalinganagar plant expansion

Kalinganagar (Jajpur): Tata Steel will invest about Rs 1 lakh crore to ramp up the capacity of the 3 million tonne per annum (MTPA) greenfield plant to 6 MTPA by 2025, a company official said today.

Amid sluggish demand of steel in the global market, it would take 4-5 years for the company to double the plant’s current capacity with an additional estimated investment of Rs 25,000 crore, while it would go to scale up the production in a phased manner.

“Iron ore requirement for the first phase of the steel plant is pegged at five million tonne per year,” the official stated.

To firm up raw material supplies, Tata Steel has drawn up a plan to invest Rs 2,300 crore on scaling up capacity of its captive mine- Khandabandh iron ore deposits in Joda circle of Keonjhar district to five mtpa. The expansion is expected to be completed by 2017.

“I look forward to further investment in these projects as well as the ancillary and downstream projects,” chief minister Naveen Patnaik said while dedicating the company’s 3 million tonne per annum (MTPA) plant to the nation today.
"Presently, iron ore from Joda mines will cater to our first phase requirement till 2017. The Khandabandh mines will meet our requirement from 2017 till 2020. Beyond that, we will have to look for more mines as our steel making capacity would go up to six mtpa", the official said.