A number of greenfield steel projects for which local and foreign promoters signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with governments of states that have iron ore deposits never got off principally because of unending protests, often turning violent, over land acquisition.
No other group had to put up with as much disquiet, including loss of lives in police firing, as Tata Steel in its pursuit of building a three-million tonne (mt) mill in the first phase of a six mt steel complex at Kalinganagar in Odisha.However, instead of thinking of abandoning the project even in extremely trying situations, it used its time-tested negotiating skills to convince people in occupation of land allotted to Tata Steel the benefits that would befall them in the event of the plant coming up.
What definitely helped company interlocutors in Odisha was the group's corporate social responsibility delivery record in many parts of the country, especially at Jamshedpur, where it runs a 10-mt steel plant. The long 11 years that passed between the signing of MoU and Kalinganagar mill commissioning is a pointer to the extraordinarily long gestation periods for projects requiring very large parcels of land where human habitations are found.
Completing this phase in spite of such a big chunk of land still not in possession of Tata Steel is a commentary on the efficiency of land use in accommodating three mt capacity. Having the country's largest blast furnace (BF) with inner volume of 4,330 cubic meter and capacity to produce 3.2 mt of hot metal annually instead of more than one BF of smaller sizes is one example of economising land use.
Similarly, significant design improvements have resulted in reduced land requirements for hot strip mill of 3.5 mt capacity in particular but in every other plant section. Earlier, Tata Steel showed the way in land use efficiency at Jamshedpur, where it managed to pack in a capacity of 10 mt, including three mt added in the last and final round of expansion.
Whatever it is, the still squatting families at Kalinganagar need to be resettled to make room for the six mt pellet plant, which will be an integral part of the three mt second phase steel capacity expansion.
Explaining the criticality of pellets in preparing an ideal feed for the blast furnace, Tata Steel Vice-President Rajiv Kumar says as the "supply of lump ore will become increasingly tight, the challenge for steelmakers here will be to agglomerate iron ore fines into pellets.
Now that the families still staying in our land earmarked for the pellet plant are seeing how well off the ones who have been resettled, I have no doubt they too will opt for R&R. Whatever happened in the past, we are now working in a congenial environment."
In the first phase, Kalinganagar is equipped with a 5.75-mt capacity sinter plant opening a big room for use of ore fines. In the process of mining ore, fines generation is about 50 per cent. If this finite resource that comes in the form of fines is to be used in the country and not exported, then steelmakers must get adequately equipped with sinter and pellet making plants.
Owner of some of the country's finest iron ore deposits, Tata Steel produces large volumes of fines as it mines the mineral. It is, therefore, in order that Kalinganagar is a user of fines from the word go and their use will rise very substantially once the pellet unit is built.
"We have built the steel plant in a way as to leave the least water and carbon footprint matching the best rates in the industry. Coke oven and BF gases will be captured to produce 202 MW of power. Pulverised coal injection will reduce the BF coke rate. BF by-product slag will be sold to nearby cement plants. The goal is environment friendliness of operation," says Kumar.
Kalinganagar, which began commercial production on May 25, will make 1.5 mt of hot rolled coils in the current financial year. India's demand for high strength coils is to grow rapidly. Kalinganagar will make coils for very demanding applications in automotive, shipbuilding, infrastructure and defence sectors.
No other group had to put up with as much disquiet, including loss of lives in police firing, as Tata Steel in its pursuit of building a three-million tonne (mt) mill in the first phase of a six mt steel complex at Kalinganagar in Odisha.However, instead of thinking of abandoning the project even in extremely trying situations, it used its time-tested negotiating skills to convince people in occupation of land allotted to Tata Steel the benefits that would befall them in the event of the plant coming up.
What definitely helped company interlocutors in Odisha was the group's corporate social responsibility delivery record in many parts of the country, especially at Jamshedpur, where it runs a 10-mt steel plant. The long 11 years that passed between the signing of MoU and Kalinganagar mill commissioning is a pointer to the extraordinarily long gestation periods for projects requiring very large parcels of land where human habitations are found.
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Rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) of the affected families at Kalinganagar continues to test the group's patience. Even while the greenfield plant was formally commissioned on November 18 last, 120 of the 1,234 families remain in occupation of around 900 acres of the 3,000 acres of land meant for the first phase.
Completing this phase in spite of such a big chunk of land still not in possession of Tata Steel is a commentary on the efficiency of land use in accommodating three mt capacity. Having the country's largest blast furnace (BF) with inner volume of 4,330 cubic meter and capacity to produce 3.2 mt of hot metal annually instead of more than one BF of smaller sizes is one example of economising land use.
Similarly, significant design improvements have resulted in reduced land requirements for hot strip mill of 3.5 mt capacity in particular but in every other plant section. Earlier, Tata Steel showed the way in land use efficiency at Jamshedpur, where it managed to pack in a capacity of 10 mt, including three mt added in the last and final round of expansion.
Whatever it is, the still squatting families at Kalinganagar need to be resettled to make room for the six mt pellet plant, which will be an integral part of the three mt second phase steel capacity expansion.
Explaining the criticality of pellets in preparing an ideal feed for the blast furnace, Tata Steel Vice-President Rajiv Kumar says as the "supply of lump ore will become increasingly tight, the challenge for steelmakers here will be to agglomerate iron ore fines into pellets.
Now that the families still staying in our land earmarked for the pellet plant are seeing how well off the ones who have been resettled, I have no doubt they too will opt for R&R. Whatever happened in the past, we are now working in a congenial environment."
In the first phase, Kalinganagar is equipped with a 5.75-mt capacity sinter plant opening a big room for use of ore fines. In the process of mining ore, fines generation is about 50 per cent. If this finite resource that comes in the form of fines is to be used in the country and not exported, then steelmakers must get adequately equipped with sinter and pellet making plants.
Owner of some of the country's finest iron ore deposits, Tata Steel produces large volumes of fines as it mines the mineral. It is, therefore, in order that Kalinganagar is a user of fines from the word go and their use will rise very substantially once the pellet unit is built.
"We have built the steel plant in a way as to leave the least water and carbon footprint matching the best rates in the industry. Coke oven and BF gases will be captured to produce 202 MW of power. Pulverised coal injection will reduce the BF coke rate. BF by-product slag will be sold to nearby cement plants. The goal is environment friendliness of operation," says Kumar.
Kalinganagar, which began commercial production on May 25, will make 1.5 mt of hot rolled coils in the current financial year. India's demand for high strength coils is to grow rapidly. Kalinganagar will make coils for very demanding applications in automotive, shipbuilding, infrastructure and defence sectors.