Tata Steel today said its 6 MTPA steel plant at Kalinga Nagar in Odisha's Jajpur district will commence operation by March, 2015, the time when the company is also planning to start work on its ferro-alloy plant at Gopalpur in Ganjam district.
This was stated by Tata Steel Managing Director T V Narendra after meeting Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here this evening.
"The first phase (3 mtpa) of our Kalinga Nagar steel project will be commissioned by March, 2015. We are also going to start work on the first unit of the ferro-alloys plant by March, next year," Narendra said.
Stating that the company has already prepared a Master Plan for its proposed Industrial Park in Gopalpur, Narendra said a team had already been touring South East Asian countries and organising roadshows to attract investors in Odisha.
"Everything will be clear in next three months," the Tata Steel MD said.
Tata's team has already been to Singapore and Thailand to attract investors. "We are presently getting the master plan ready for the SEZ by Jurong (Singapore-based consultancy firm)", Narendran said.
Tata Steel is the anchor tenant for the Gopalpur Special Economic Zone (SEZ) spread on an area of 2,952 acres. The company would set up a 50,000 tonne per annum ferrochrome plant and one 400,000 tpa rebar mill over an area of 400 acres of land at Gopalpur.
The company would investment of Rs 1,000 crore on these two projects which would initially create employment for 1000 people. While the ferroalloys plant will cost Rs 200-250 crore, the rebar mill will entail an investment of Rs 750 to Rs 800 crore.
Narendra said that the investors would put money in different sectors like IT, chemicals, electronics, textile and gems and jewellery.
Though the state government had handed over about 3000 acres of land to Tata Steel to set up a steel pant at Gopalpur in 1995, the proposed mega steel plant project could not materialise due to water scarcity in the area, sources said.
Asked about the closure of Tata's Noamundi iron ore mine in Jharkhand, Marenda said: "We are in discussion with the Jharkhand government to solve the issue.
