Centre keen to enhance capacity of RSP to 10 MTPA in 12th Plan

Reported by Chinmaya Dehury/Edited by Sandeep Sahu

Bhubaneswar, Sep 28:

The Central government has decided to enhance the capacity of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) from 4.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 10 MTPA during the 12th Plan period.

It was revealed at a high level meeting attended by Union Steel secretary G Mohan Kumar, who reviewed the progress of various steel and mining projects of the state here on Saturday.

Chief Secretary Jugal Kishore Mohapatra assured the secretary of the full and proactive support of the state government to accomplish the task.

As Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) is keen to acquire equity stake in Nilachal Ispat Nigam Ltd, it was decided in the meeting that a joint meeting of Government of India, Government of Odisha, MMTC, SAIL and NINL will be held under chairmanship of Steel secretary to resolve issues relating to shares of MMTC and NNIL.

Notwithstanding talks process between the two companies over the last few years, the proposal to merge SAIL and NINL was scrapped as the Commerce Ministry was not willing to give away the country’s largest pig iron producer, sources said.

State-run trading company MMTC, which falls under the administrative control of the Commerce Ministry, is the principal promoter of NINL.

Odisha-based NINL, which is the country’s leading producer and exporter of pig iron, is jointly promoted by MMTC, the Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha (IPICOL) and Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC). MMTC Limited owns the majority stake in the steel company, while the Odisha government owns 26.29% through IPICOL and OMC.

Stating that there is plenty of scope for OMC and NMDC to work together, Mohan Kumar said these two corporations had been advised to locate the areas of collaboration so that raw material linkages can be assured to the investors.

It will be a win-win situation for the two corporations if they collaborate to maximize production, the chief secretary said.

The issues relating to updating of mining leases was also discussed in the meeting. It was decided that the  Odisha Steel and Mines secretary will call for bilateral meetings of the perspective lessees and resolve the issues through mutual discussions to avoid further litigation which has delayed the process. The issues relating to forest clearances, land acquisition, removal of encroachment, rehabilitation, renewal of mining leases etc of SAIL, MNDC, OMDC, NSPCL, RSP and MSTC were discussed in the meeting.