Tata Steel is likely to start construction of its Rs 15,400 crore, 6 million tonnes (MT) steel plant at Kalinganagar in Jajpur district of Orissa in three months, a top company official said today.
“We are planning to start construction work at Kalinganagar site in the next two-three months,” the official said.
“We have already received possession of 800 ha of land out of 1,360 ha required for the project, and are expecting to get the remaining land in the next two months,” he added.
In all, 1,216 ha land has been registered in the company’s name, and registration for the remaining 144 ha will be completed in a couple of months.
Kalinganagar project, which faced opposition from local tribals when it took possession of the land registered in its name, will rehabilitate 1,200 families for setting up the plant.
“Around 650 families have been rehabilitated by Tata under its rehabilitation programme, and others will be rehabilitated soon,” the official said.
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Local opposition to the plant has reduced substantially on the rehabilitation, and a 40-member Tata team has been working with the local community to reach a consensus.
“The company has already placed orders worth Rs 6,500 crore for equipment like blast furnace, steel melting shop and other civilian structures,” he said. Though construction of the plant’s core structure is yet to start, the company has begun to set up a fabrication yard, and material section near the plant site.
Tata Steel, which signed a memorandum of understanding with Orissa government in 2004 to set up the plant, had aimed to start first phase of operations by 2008, but will miss the deadline because of a delay in land acquisition.
“We need 24 months to start the first phase of operations from the date of starting construction work,” the official said.
Tata Motors, a part of the Tata Group, which shifted its small car Nano plant from Singur in West Bengal to Sanand in Gujarat because of local protest, does not see a similar thing happening in Orissa.
“We strongly believe that the Singur episode will not be repeated in Kalinganagar as our team is in close contact with all stakeholders in the project,” the official said.
Tata Steel, with an annual capacity of 30 million tonne crude steel, is the sixth largest steel producer in the world.