Tata Steel to start Orissa construction in November.

Tata Steel to start Orissa construction in November.

Metal Bulletin, Mumbai.

31st August 2007

Tata Steel will start construction of its 6 million tpy steel plant at Kalinganagar in the Eastern Indian state of Orissa by November, according to Tata Steel managing director B Muthuraman.

"We have asked the Orissa government for allotment of iron ore mines," Muthuraman told reporters in Bhubaneshwar, the capital of Orissa after meeting the state's chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

A Tata Steel spokesman said the company had already rehabilitated 620 of the 1,200 families which have been displaced by the project at Kalinganagar.

According to the spokesman, Muthuraman further said the company has placed orders for equipment worth $1.1 billion.

Tata steel is hoping to reach the target of rehabilitating at least 700 of the affected families before starting any construction work.

Tata Steel had in November 2004 signed a memorandum of understanding for setting up a 6 million tpy integrated steel plant in Kalinganagar Industrial Complex at Duburi in Jajpur district of Orissa.

The project is expected to be built in two phases each of 3 million tpy. The the first phase is scheduled to be commissioned in 2008. Locals who have lost their land to the project have put up strong opposition and twelve people were killed when police opened fire on protesters in January 2006.

Copyright © Metal Bulletin Ltd. All rights reserved.