ArcelorMittal plans to invest Rs 80K cr in Jharkhand, Orissa

Steelmaker ArcelorMittal is setting up a 15-member team to finalise the blueprint for setting up two 12 million tonne integrated plants in Jharkhand and Orissa, investing around Rs 80,000 crore in ten years.

"Our group management board (GMB) has approved the constitution of a 15-member technical team for our steel projects in Orissa and Jharkhand under the supervision of our Chief Technical Officer Pierre Gugliermina," ArcelorMittal Brazil Chief Executive Officer Jose Armando Campos said.

He re-affirmed the company's determination in completing these projects and said that Indian engineering company M N Dastur & Co would prepare the detailed project report for these plants.

Campos said the study conducted by the CTO on these projects would complement the Dastur & Co's study, which is likely to be over by June.

ArcelorMittal is said to have identified Torpa and Kamdara blocks in Khunti and Gumla districts for its proposed Jharkhand plant.

South Korea's Posco, the world's third largest steelmaker by output, is also in the process of setting up a 12 million tonne greenfield manufacturing plant in Orissa.

Campos said, "Our Brazilian operations are a classic example of integrating plant management with corporate social responsibility. Our company is the most respected one in Brazil and we hope to replicate this model in India as well."

ArcelorMittal's Brazilian operations contribute about 10 per cent to the group's operating margins of about $17 billion.

ArcelorMittal spokesman Stefan Schwarz said the company's immense experience in setting up projects worldwide, coupled with local economic development, would see it through in these two states.

"Even if the projects are not identical, the community-based approach is definitely something we can use as an instrument to ensure that the local population is benefited," Schwarz said.

The company would provide adequate employment to the people of the project sites besides providing indirect employment to thousands of locals in due course of time, he said. The design of these plants envisage that the iron and steel making would be done through integrated blast furnace route.

Trying to avoid any opposition to the company's projects, Remi Boyer, head (corporate social responsibility), AreclorMittal, and Secretary to the GMB, said the company would be compliant with Orissa government's resettlement and rehabilitation policy.

"We do have a detailed study ready from Ecosmart and we will work on it with the government," Boyer said.

ArcelorMittal is still expecting iron ore block for meeting its captive requirements from the state governments. However, the company along with GVK Power has been granted Seregarha coal block for generating 750 mw.