JSPL to Expand Capacity of its Angul Steel Plant to 20 MTPA
Bhubaneswar, (ONS): Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL) will expand the steelmaking capacity of its Steel Plant at Angul Odisha to 20 MTPA by 2030 buttressed with internal accrual and without any borrowing. “Once we stabilize our operations at Angul Plant, we want to embark on a new journey where we want to take the capacity from 6 MTPA to 20 MTPA by 2030, coinciding the Government of India’s steel policy of producing 300 MT Steel by 2030,” informed JSPL’s Chairman Mr. Naveen Jindal, after meeting the Chief Secretary of Odisha Mr. Aditya Prasad Padhi today at Odisha Secretariat. The company will make additional investment of more than Rs. 50000 Crore for the expansion.
“And this we are going to do without much borrowing. First we want to repay our entire debt. This will be done through internal earnings and through bringing more equity. We may get more strategic investors to achieve this”, he added. The company has planned the layout on how to achieve the 20 MT of production of steel in next 12 years.
He also informed that the Blast Furnace set up at Angul is stabilized now and the company is producing more than 9000 tonnes of hot metal every day. The Company is hopeful of producing 3 MT of steel this year and 5.4 MT next year.
JSPL will also set up a industrial park at Angul to promote downstream industries in steel with investment of Rs. 500 Crore and lay a slurry pipeline of 200 KM from Barbil to Angul for Iron Ore Transportation with investment of Rs. 950 Crore.
Talking about raw material, Mr. Jidnal said that availability of quality raw material is still a challenge. Though India has 5th largest reserve of non-cocking coal in the world, coal is very expensive in the country. “We are buying the most expensive coal in the world. This erodes our competitiveness”, he said. “Coal India must ensure availability of coal to the value additional industries,” he added.
Similarly, he informed that iron ore price in last one year has been increased more than 200%. The government should facilitate opening of closed mines for improvement of uninterrupted iron ore supply at competitive price. , he added. This will help in improving the performance of all the steel units in Odisha.
Mr. Jindal appreciated efforts of Odisha Government for attractive more investment to the state under Make in Odisha initiatives. “Odisha has tremendous potential. It has a huge population of youth. We are supporting Odisha Government’s effort to encourage investment in the State,” said Mr. Jindal.
Mr. Jindal also had meeting with Principal Secretary (Steel and Mines) Mr. RK Sharma and Principal Secretary (Industries) Mr. Sanjeev Chopra.