A high-level panel has asked the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways (MoRTH) to widen a National Highway to RINL stockyard in Hyderabad.
The directions were given by an Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG), which reviewed mega projects in the steel sector in a view to fast-tracking them.
The development comes close on the heels of the Centre asking major steel PSUs to set up stockyards in rural areas to boost per capital steel consumption.
“Visakhapatnam Steel Plant’s (VSP) Hyderabad stockyard is located at Patancheru and connected by single lane road from National Highway, which needs to be widened to double lane road,” the IMG told MoRTH.
RINL, the corporate entity of VSP is in the process of completing its expansion and modernisation project to jack up capacity from existing 3 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 7.3 MTPA.
Earlier this month, the government had asked major steel companies, including SAIL and RINL, to set up and strengthen stockyards in rural areas so that consumers save on time and cost of transportation.
“We have asked leading steel players, including SAIL and RINL, to establish stockyards in rural areas for providing products required in construction and other applications. This will save time and cost of transportation for consumers and boost per man consumption,” Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma has said.
Steel consumption in India is barely 60 Kg per capita against the global average of 210 kg per capita. In China it is 460 kg.
A Parliamentary panel on Steel and Coal in December had also expressed disappointment over low steel consumption.
RINL has an ambitious programme to increase the capacity of the steel plant to 20 MTPA.
