Consultant for VSP expansion project in 15 days

The selection of a consultant for the Rs 8,600-crore Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) expansion project will be completed within 15 days.

"Three firm, including one foreign company, have submitted their bids in response to an invitation. Kolkata-based M N Dastur & Company (Private) Limited, one of the three companies, is the lowest bidder," Y Siva Sagar Rao, chairman and managing director, VSP, told mediapersons here on Friday on the sidelines of a national seminar on refractories.

M N Dastur & Company, which has prepared the detailed project report for the expansion of VSP to 6.3 million tonnes capacity, was likely to be appointed as consultant because of its lowest bid, he said.

The selected consultant would have to take the entire responsibility from tender documents' preparation till the completion of the project, Rao said.

"VSP has more than Rs 4,000 crore on hand. We will start the work with this money initially. In fact, ground clearing and road works have already started," he said.

The expansion work is expected to be completed in 36 months. By October 28, 2008, the construction of hot mill, steel mill and two rolling mills would be completed.

Work on the other two rolling mills would take another 10 months, he said, adding "With the recent acquisition of coking coal mines by VSP in Jharkhand, the imports were likely to come down by 20 per cent in future."