Steel Authority of India (SAIL), Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) and National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) signed a memorandum of understanding on Friday to set up a four million tonne per annum integrated steel plant in Chhattisgarh. The MoU envisages setting up a joint venture company with equal equity participation. The Chhattisgarh government will provide land, electricity, water and mining lease to the proposed project, according to a release issued by VSP today.Mecon will provide consultancy for identification of a suitable site and for preparation of the proposal as well as the techno-economic feasibility report. SAIL and VSP are the two largest public sector steel producing companies, and NMDC is the largest mining company in the country. SAIL currently produces 15 million tonne of steel and plans to increase it to 55 million tonne by 2020. The present production capacity of VSP is 3.6 million tonne, which it plans to raise it to 16 million tonne by 2020, the release added.
