Welspun group lines up Rs 6,400 cr for Orissa

Welspun Power and Steel Ltd and Welspun Anjar SEZ Ltd, two companies of the $1 billion Welspun Group, today signed separate memoranda of understanding with the Orissa government for setting up a 3 million tonne steel and pipe plant and an integrated textile park in the state, respectively.

The combined investment in the projects is pegged at Rs 6,403.80 crore.

The steel and pipe plant project is estimated to cost Rs 6,103.80 crore. Of this, the steel slab mill, which will be a backward integration facility for manufacturing ductile and spiral pipes, will cost Rs 5,303.80 crore.

The project will come up in two phases. Apart from the 3 million tonne per annum steel slab mill, the first phase consists of a coke oven plant (1.7 million tonnes per annum), sinter plant (4.5 million tonnes), blast furnace (3.65 million tonnes of hot metal) and a steel melting shop (3.30 million tonnes of liquid steel).

The first phase is scheduled to be operational within four years of signing the MoU.

In phase II, the company will set up a 0.10 million tonne ductile iron pipe plant at an estimated investment of Rs 100 crore within three years and a 0.20 million tonne spiral pipe plant at Rs 100 crore within one and a half years. It also intends to set up a 150 Mw captive power plant costing about Rs 600 crore.

The company requires about 2,000-2,200 acres of land for the steel plant and associated facilities. Welspun Anjar SEZ Ltd signed an MoU with Orissa's textile department for setting up an integrated textile park on 400 acres of land at Choudwar.

Among other facilities, the company will set up a modern spinning mill of 25,000 spindle capacity and a weaving mill there. Welspun will invest about Rs 300 crore over the next three years in the project.