The first unit of the Essar Steel’s proposed six million tonne steel plant near Paradip in Orissa is expected to go on stream in September 2010.
The first unit comprises of the facility to produce 6 million tonne of pellet per annum and construction of ore beneficiation plant and laying of 253 km long slurry pipeline to carry iron ore from Joda area in Keonjhar district to the plant site near Paradip.
This will be followed by construction of a second pelletisation unit of 6 million tonne and establishment of blast furnace and LD converter to produce 6 million tonne of steel per annum in the later phase. The full project is slated to be completed by 2013-14.
The total cost of the project is pegged at Rs 22,000 crore out of which the cost of the pelletisation plant, slurry pipeline and beneficiation plant is estimated at Rs 4,000 crore.
“We have already spent about Rs 1200 crore on the project. About 40 per cent of the construction for the first pellet unit at Paradip is over. While 125 km of 253 km slurry pipeline has been laid, orders have been placed for the second pellet unit and the steel plant”, said HS Sethi, director, project, Essrar Steel Orissa Ltd.
However, like many other projects in the state, the progress of the Essar Steel’s project has been marred by frequent agitation by the land losers. It may be noted that the project required about 2000 acres of land in three villages- Bijaychandrapur, Nuagada and Udaybhata near Paradip. Out of this 1268 acres were earmarked to be acquired in the first phase which included 159 acres of government land and 28 acres of forest land.
Though the government had benchmarked the land price at Rs 10 lakh, Rs 12 lakh and Rs 15 lakh in these villages, the company had agreed to pay the highest rate of Rs 15 lakh in all the three villages.
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The company has, so far, acquired about 200 acres, including a 103 acres patch owned by the government. However, the land acquisition process has run into rough weather with the locals stepping up their land compensation demand to Rs 25 lakh per acre.
Frequent agitation by the locals over the land rate has disrupted the progress of the project which is now running a year behind the schedule. The company authorities, who claimed that they were paying the highest land rate fixed by the government for the area, are waiting for the administration to resolve the issue through negotiation with the land losers.
Responding to other concerns of the locals on employment and environment, Sethi said, the company is committed to follow the Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R & R) policy of the state which provides for employment to one member of each of the displaced family. The company has already sent 52 persons belonging to land loser families for skill training in ITIs with a view to absorb them in the project work. Similarly, state of the art technology will be adopted to minimize pollution and protect the environment, he added.