Odisha’s biggest integrated steel plant, owned by JSPL, was made operational on Saturday with the commissioning of the country’s largest blast furnace.
Inaugurating the state of the art six mtpa steel plant of JSPL, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said it would provide direct employment to around 30,000 people and indirect jobs to many others.
Mr. Patnaik said “as India looks to reach steel manufacturing capacity of 300 million tonnes by 2030, I am proud to note that more than 20 per cent of the country’s steel shall continue to be produced from our state.”
Stating that the state government is committed to provide all support to the steel industry, he said “we have added more than 16 mtpa steel making capacity in the state since 2005.”
“My government’s vision is to develop Angul as an economically vibrant, high-ended engineering and manufacturing hub with world-class living and working environment,” Mr. Patnaik said.
He said the state government was creating an industrial eco-system for enhanced value addition in Odisha. “My vision is to create 30 lakh additional employment opportunities by 2025 and bring prosperity for the people of the state. JSPL’s 6mtpa steel plant is yet another step towards realising that vision,”.
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 steel making 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 steel making 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, company sources said.
