PM to kick-start IISCO expansion tomorrow

A proposed Rs 9,000 crore greenfield modernisation and expansion programme is expected to give a fresh lease of life to IISCO Steel Plant (ISP), a unit of Steel Authority of India (SAIL).

The investment is the second largest in West Bengal, after JSW Steel's proposed integrated steel plant.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will lay the foundation of the project on Sunday. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Union Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan and Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi will also be present.

The expansion project is an integral part of SAIL's growth plan to produce 23 million tonne of hot metal by 2010.

Installation of state-of-the-art environment friendly and energy efficient steel making technology, as envisaged in the expansion programme, will help ISP multiply its crude steel production capacity from 0.5 million tonne to 2.5 million tonne by 2010.

At present, ISP's capacity stands at 4.26 lakh tonne of saleable steel, mainly structurals and bars and rods. It also produces 2.54 lakh tonne pig iron annually.

Among the new facilities that would be installed as part of expansion are a wire rod and bar mill of 1.2 million tonne capacity.

SAIL officials said the event was significant for the development of West Bengal's Durgapur-Asansol industrial belt "� a dream project of the first chief minister of the state B C Roy.

"The company has waited for several decades for the revival of the Burnpur-based plant, which was once West Bengal's pride," an official said.

The erstwhile Indian Iron & Steel Co Ltd (Iisco), which owned this plant, was a blue-chip company in the initial years of independence and had its shares traded on the London Stock Exchange.

The company's fortunes started sliding and the management of Iisco was taken over by the Union government in 1972. Iisco finally became a wholly owned subsidiary of SAIL in 1978-79.

However, Iisco continued to be in the red due to high cost of operations stemming from its obsolete technology, aging equipment with low productivity and a large workforce and became a BIFR company in 1994.

Iisco's fortunes turned around in 2003-04, following implementation of a revival plan formulated by SAIL and approved by the government.

The current ISP was born in February 2006, after its amalgamation with SAIL.