Indian Iron and Steel Company, (IISCO) which was merged with the Steel Authority of India (SAIL), would require an investment of around Rs 5,000 crore to upgrade its facilities and increase it capacity to 2 million tonnes.''IISCO, which is an old plant would need an investment of around Rs 5,000 crore to modernise its various facilities and expand its capacity to 2 MT from the present 0.3 MT,'' Chairman of IISCO S K Bhattacharya said.In fact, investment has to be made in every area from iron-making, steel-making, sinter plant and finishing lines, Bhattacharya said.Asked when the process would begin, Bhattacharya said if the company received the formal notification from the government on merger soon, the investment proposal might be placed before the board meeting of SAIL scheduled to be held at the end of this month.Bhattacharya said that according to the plan already chalked out for IISCO, its capacity should go upto 1 million tonne by 2007 and another one million tonne would follow suit.SAIL would now follow the required process and take up the matter with department of company affairs and other concerned agencies and it would take a few months to complete the merger process.SAIL Chairman V S Jain has also said that the company would now invest in upgradaing various facilities of IISCO as well as its collieries and mines.Bhattacharya, also the MD of SAIL's Durgapur steel plant, said that there would be lot of synergy between DSP and the Burnpur-based IISCO.
