Tata Steel, the anchor tenant for the industrial park being developed on 3,500 acres of land at Gopalpur, has sought extension of the in-principle approval granted for the park, which is set to be notified as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ).
“The registration of land lease for the Gopalpur industrial park is yet to be done. In the absence of registration, application cannot be made to the Union ministry of commerce for notification of the park as an SEZ. Tata Steel has asked the state government to extend the date for in-principle approval beyond June 17 this year,” an industries department official told Business Standard.
A senior Tata Steel executive said, “All orders have been placed for our planned projects at the industrial park. We are awaiting the environment clearance which is expected soon.”
Though Tata Steel had acquired the land in mid 1990s for setting up of a mega steel plant, the company later shelved the project and decided to set up an industrial park there.
The steel maker has lined up two projects at the Gopalpur industrial park- a 50,000 tonne per annum ferroalloys plant and 4,00,000 tonne per annum bar mill. The company would invest Rs 1,000 crore on these two projects which would initially create employment for 1,000 people.
While the ferroalloys plant will cost about Rs 200 to 250 crore, the bar mill will be set up at an investment of Rs 750 to Rs 800 crore. This will be the fourth ferroalloys plant of Tata Steel in Orissa. The company is currently operating three ferroalloys plants at Joda, Bamanipal and Athgarh (through its subsidiary Rawmet) with capacities of 50,000 tonnes per annum each.
The progress of the Gopalpur industrial park as well as a six million tonne per annum (mtpa) steel plant proposed by Tata Steel at Kalinga Nagar was reviewed on Tuesday by the state Chief Secretary B K Patnaik.
“Land acquisition needs to be expedited for the railway corridor at Kalinga Nagar. We have urged Idco to speed up land allotment for the corridor,” said Patnaik.
“The rail siding will serve as common infrastructure for Tata Steel and some other steel industries operating in the Kalinga Nagar complex. It needs 150 acres of land,” said the company executive.
Meanwhile, Tata Steel has shifted 948 out of 1,195 families for its steel project.
“Construction work on the steel plant is 30 per cent complete and we expect Phase-I commissioning of the project by last quarter of FY 14,” he said.
The steel maker has already invested over Rs 10,000 crore on the Kalinga Nagar plant and the first phase would witness an investment of Rs 20,000-25,000 crore. The greenfield steel plant will concentrate on flat steel products, catering to the needs of the automotive industry and white goods.
