Joint work between Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) and Kobe Steel of Japan for conducting a feasibility study for a new steelwork here will continue as all employees and the plants of Kobe Steel were unharmed by the recent calamity that struck Japan.
Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma said that in response to a letter from SAIL Chairman C.S. Verma expressing solidarity with the quake-affected people of Japan, Kobe Steel has said that the loss of life and infrastructure in Japan is huge. However, all employees and plants of Kobe Steel were almost unharmed. Therefore, they can continue the joint work of feasibility study on the new steel works at Jagadishpur Steelworks Unit (JSU) in Uttar Pradesh according to the minister.
A SAIL official said that under the present MoU, Kobe Steel will provide the technology for production of value-added steel at JSU, besides helping in setting up a gas-based plant.
It may be mentioned that SAIL and Kobe Steel have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for comprehensive strategic collaboration covering technologies, projects and other areas.
As for the Jagdishpur unit, the steel minister also held a meeting with senior officials from SAIL for reviewing the progress of the ongoing revival work of JSU, the erstwhile plant of Malvika Steel. The Minister envisaged an investment of around Rs. 10,000 crore for building a state-of-the-art steel making unit in Jagdishpur.
For Phase-II development of JSU, discussions with Kobe Steel were held by a joint task force. Options for setting up a 1,000-MW gas-based power plant and a steel plant based on gas-based DRI (direct reduced iron-making) technology and using electric arc furnace for steel making with value-added products are being examined.
The assets of erstwhile Malvika Steel at Jagdishpur were acquired by SAIL in 2009 and registered in SAIL's name in June 2010. For reviving this set-up and to supply value-added finished products to meet the demand of the region, initially four main units were proposed under Phase-I.
Two units, namely, a warehouse with an annual capacity of 12,000 tonnes and a galvanised sheet corrugation unit with a capacity of 13,000 tonnes per annum are in the final stages of completion and will be ready for commissioning soon. Work on two more units under the current phase, namely, a TMT bar mill with 1.50 lakh tonnes capacity and a crash barrier manufacturing unit with 10,000 tonnes capacity is progressing according to schedule and will be completed by November.
The inputs of GP sheets, billets and HR sheets for all these facilities will be sourced from the existing plants and units of SAIL.
