Vizag Steel's spread plan to get nod by Oct

The Rs 8,250 crore expansion plan of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant is expected to be be cleared by end of October, according to Union steel minister Ram Vilas Paswan.

According to an official in the ministry, the company has already submitted a detailed project report to the government and the initial assessment has also been completed.

"The finance ministry has already agreed to the cabinet note, which is being circulated among other ministries," said the official.

Visakhapatnam Steel Plant seeks to expand its output of liquid steel from 3 million tonne to 6.3 million tonne and of hot metal from 3.4 million tonne to 6.5 million tonne.

"This would be done by setting up a new blast furnace and new facilities for value-added steel production," said a senior company executive.

As per the project report prepared by the Kolkata-based MN Dastur & Company, the expansion plan is likely to cost about Rs.8,250 crore. The execution of the project is likely to take three years.

Of the total project cost, about Rs 5,750 crore would be met from internally generated resources, while the company proposes to raise the rest by way of loans or debentures, both in local and foreign currency.

The company already has about Rs 3,000 crore invested in fixed deposits, said a company executive.

The proposed tenure of the debt is likely to be 5 years. Company executives maintain that the expansion is expected to generate around 2,000 new employment opportunities.