NMDC is in talks with Nippon Steel and Kobe Steel of Japan for partnership in two steel plant projects in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The state-owned firm will also be investing Rs.3,000 crore to set up a 12-million tonne per annum pipeline in Chhattisgarh to supply iron ore to its domestic steel customers.
“We are talking to the Japanese steel mills for a joint venture project in Karnataka. It is not that the joint venture will be with Nippon Steel per se… it could be with any steel company,” NMDC Chairman and Managing Director Rana Som told journalists here on Tuesday.
Last week, NMDC had meetings with Japanese steel firms for the proposed two million tonne steel plant in the iron ore-rich Bellary-Hospet region of Karnataka. It would be a joint venture at an estimated cost of Rs.10,000 crore. NMDC was also talking to Kobe Steel for a joint venture project to produce iron nuggets in Andhra Pradesh at the premises of Sponge Iron India (SIIL), he said..
Mr. Som further said NMDC would start placing order for equipment for its upcoming three million tonne per annum steel plant in Chhattisgarh by October and the project would be completed in the next 40 months. “We also plan to invest Rs.3,000 crore to set up a 12-million tonne pipeline between Bailadila in Chhattisgarh and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, covering 424 km. It will also supply iron ore to the proposed Karnataka plant,” he added.
NMDC plans to place orders for the pipeline by October and commission it by 2012. “The pipeline will help us in evacuating our increasing production of iron ore to our domestic customers like RINL and Essar Steel,” Mr. Som added.
