Ferro Alloys Corporation (FACOR) will set up a greenfield stainless steel plant, a 45MW captive coal-fired power plant and a 250 MW coal based independednt power plant. The project cost will be Rs.2500 crores. The company has also asked for a coal blocks from the government to ensure adequate coal for its proposed power project.
Investment : Rs.2500 Crores
ONGC lines up Rs 7,750 cr to revamp onshore assets
Hopes to cut production cost
While the board has already approved a Rs 2,350-crore investment for revamping installations in Assam, the company is now preparing a Rs 5,400-crore plan for assets in Gujarat.
Pratim Ranjan Bose
Kolkata, Oct. 28 ONGC has lined up Rs 7,750-crore investment to revamp the age-old installations and pipelines of its onshore assets, which produce over 8 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent a year. According to sources, the project is expected to leave a positive impact on the company’s bottomline by substantially reducing operational and maintenance costs.
While the ONGC board has already approved a Rs 2,350 crore investment for revamping installations in Assam, the company is now preparing a Rs 5,400-crore proposal for revamping installations and pipelines at its assets in Mehsana, Ankleswar and Ahmedabad in Gujarat. These three assets contribute roughly 60-65 per cent of ONGC’s total onshore production.
The proposal (for the Gujarat assets) is expected to be placed before the board in December-January and will include a plan for approximately Rs 4,400 crore for revamping installations and Rs 1,000 crore for rejuvenating pipelines.
“Our assets in Assam and Gujarat are in operation for over three decades, leading to very heavy maintenance cost of Rs 300-400 crore a year. Considering that ONGC has already adopted projects for increasing the recovery rate of all four assets, we have decided in favour of a complete overhaul of the equipment,” a company source said.
Apart from a drastic reduction in maintenance cost, the project will increase the company’s control over production, and reduce surface bottleneck, leading to more assured supply and better data management.
The company has already received a detailed report from project consultant Saipem India. “We are expecting to float the tender for revamp of installations in Assam in November. The project details for Gujarat assets are now being scrutinised. We are hopeful of board approval in this regard by December-January,” the source said.
On the onshore assets in Tripura and Tamil Nadu (Karaikal) and Andhra Pradesh (Rajamundhry), the source said these assets were relatively new and out of the purview of the present project.
ONGC has produced 8.06 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent in 2006-07 against the target of 8.6 million tonnes. In 2007-08 the company has a target of 8.78 million tonnes production from onshore assets.
Steel investments to touch Rs 3 lakh cr
29 Oct, 2007, 0413 hrs IST, PTI
NEW DELHI: Steel seems to have outplayed other sectors in wooing investments, both foreign and domestic, as the sector is set to attract investment worth about Rs 3,00,000 crore within the next five years.
“Our steel sector is booming and has emerged as a key investment destination for multinational steel giants like Mittal Steel and Posco. The investment promised by these companies alone total to more than Rs 1,30,000 crore with others making a beeline to invest here,” a top steel ministry official told agencies.
“Going by the ballpark estimate of Rs 4,000 crore investment per million tonne of additional capacity, an investment of Rs 2,76,880 crore is expected by 2011-12 and Rs 8,70,640 crore by 2019-20,” he pointed out.
The optimism of steel ministry could be understood as consumption of steel during the last three years has grown by 12.5% per annum against 6.9% envisaged in the national steel policy.
Enthused by the government’s investment policies, Korean steel giant Pohang Steel Company (Posco) arrived in India in 2005 and pledged to invest Rs 52,000 crore to build a 12 million tonne integrated steel plant in Orissa. Not to be left behind, global steel tycoon LN Mittal too have promised to invest about Rs 80,000 crore for building one plant each in Jharkhand and Orissa.
Sensing stiff competition, state-run steel giant SAIL embarked on modernising all its plants at an estimated cost of Rs 49,000 crore to retain its position as the key domestic player. Besides, the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL) too is executing its modernisation worth about Rs 9,000 crore.
As per a recent report by an international investment banker, consumption of steel in India is set to grow by 16% per annum during the next five years and 100 million tonne of steel will be consumed by India by 2012, the official pointed out. The country’s raw material availability, coupled with growing consumption, has emboldened domestic steelmakers such as Tata, Essar and JSW to announce major capacity expansions, both greenfield and brownfield.
Tata steel has announced to carry out brownfield expansions in Jamshedpur and greenfield in Chhattisgarh and Orissa to increase its production to 13 MT. JSW too is expanding capacity of its Vijayanagar plant and is setting up greenfield project in West Bengal to take its production up.
Essar steel will up its capacity to 14.5 MT from the current 4.6 MT. Among the greenfield projects pledged by steel utilities are 3 MT by Tata Steel, 6 MT by Essar, 5 MT by BSPL, 1 MT by Monnet Ispat. Even states which do not have iron ore too have attracted huge investments. Gujarat has roped in investment of about Rs 9,577 crore, Maharashtra Rs 4,665 crore, and West Bengal has clinched investments of more than Rs 30,000 crore.
“While the euphoria on the steel sector is heartening, we are keen to ensure that these promised investments translate on the ground and an inter-ministerial group (IMG) has been constituted to ensure the same by removing the bottlenecks impeding the investments,” the official said. The IMG is meeting on October 30 to deliberate on the impediments and suggest ways to remove them, he said and pointed out that it would extensively deliberate on ways to ensure raw material security to the steelmakers.
Tata Steel Ltd expects to commence work at its proposed 6-million tonne steel plant in Orissa in November and has ordered plant equipment worth Rs4,500 crore for it. The project is scheduled to be commissioned by end 2009.
Investment:
Status: Orders placed for plant & machinery
Location : Kalinga Nagar, Orissa
[31st August, 2007]
Railways to buy 100 locomotives each year from Marhowra unit
The new diesel locomotive factory is to come up at Marhowra in Bihar
The Indian Railways plans to buy at least one-third of its requirement of diesel locomotives from a new joint venture unit controlled by a private sector firm, according to terms listed in a request for qualification (RFQ) for this factory released in August. The new diesel locomotive factory is to come up at Marhowra in Bihar.
The RFQ guarantees that the railways will buy 100 locomotives a year for the next seven to 10 years from the Marhowra facility. It also expects to acquire another 250 diesel locomotives a year from the state-owned Diesel Locomotive Works in Varanasi.
The RFQ mandates a two-stage tendering process to select the company that will be allowed to set up the Marhowra factory. In the first stage, companies will be shortlisted on the basis of their ability to build and run the facility. The actual bid will come in the second stage. Mint had earlier reported the two-stage tendering process for the new factories the railways planned to set up with private firms and on the possibility of these factories receiving guaranteed orders. The railways will hold a 26% stake in the new units.
“The process for selection of the private partner should be complete in a couple of months. The (railway) ministry will also be soon going ahead with its plans for opening new units to set up a coach (factory) and another locomotive factory,” said Amrit Pandurangi, executive director at PriceWaterhouse Coopers, the audit firm that is advising the ministry of railways on the joint venture projects. Senior officials at the railways say that private sector firms are unlikely to be interested in bidding for the project in the absence of guaranteed orders.
“There is simply no other buyer for the new units and since it is the Indian Railways that is initiating the setting up of the new factories, we also have to see that these units continue to do well,” said one official. The official, who did not wish to be named, added that existing factories operating under the railway ministry would continue to receive offers.
“We simply cannot meet the demand for locomotives or coaches from the existing units and the additional demand would be met through the new units,” he added.
In the RFQ, the railways said only companies that have manufactured and supplied over 1,000 diesel electric locomotives would be considered for selection. The railway ministry has also specified that it is interested in 6,500 hp locomotives.
Railway officials said it was likely that these heavy-haul locomotives would be used on the proposed dedicated freight corridor where there was a plan to increase carrying capacity of freight trains.
L&T - Outotec consortium bags Rs.762 Crores Sinter Plant Order from SAIL
Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T) has announced that the Company's ECC Division in consortium with Outotec GmbH, Germany have bagged a Rs 762 crore Sinter Plant order, from Steel Authority Of India Ltd (SAIL). This plant of 2 X 204 square metre grate area with a capacity of 3.80 Million Ton Per Annum, is to be executed on a turnkey basis, at the IISCO Steel Plant (ISP) of SAIL, at Burnpur, West Bengal.
The order value for the Company is Rs 639.99 Crore and Euro 22.08 Million for Outotec.
The new sinter plant will be part of SAIL's ambitious programme of expanding its capacity at ISP by 2.5 MTPA crude steel. The turnkey sinter plant project is to be completed in 29.5 months.
Outotec's scope covers basic engineering, supply of proprietary and special equipment as well as technical services while the Company's scope covers detail engineering, supply of indigenous mechanical, electrical and instrumentation works and complete site services including civil, structural and erection works.
The Company along with Outotec is presently executing a 2.3 Million Ton per Annum Sinter Plant on turnkey basis at Tata Steel, Jamshedpur, which is nearing completion. This consortium has also received an order, from Tata Steel, for a 5.75 Million Ton per Annum sinter plant for the new Kalinganagar, Orissa unit. This new order re-confirms the Company and Outotec's leadership position hi the Steel Industry for Sinter Plants.
The stock was trading at Rs.2616, up by Rs.47 or 1.83%. The stock hit an intraday high of Rs.2650 and low of Rs.2591.50. The total traded quantity was 66485 compared to 2 week average of 174307.
Hooghly Met Coke & Power Co light up the 1st Coke Oven
2007-09-18 14:07:11 Source : Moneycontrol.com
Email Print Version
Hooghly Met Coke & Power Co Ltd, a Joint Venture between Tata Steel Ltd and WBIDC, installed its first module of coke ovens which was lighted up today by Dr T Mukherjee, Deputy Managing Director (Steel) Tata Steel Ltd and Chairman, Hooghly Met Coke & Power Co Ltd, along with Mr Lakshman Seth, Honorable Member of Parliament and Chairman, Haldia Development Authority in the presence of other dignitaries. The Company is in its advanced stage of implementing its green field project of setting up a stand-alone Coke Ovens Complex along with Power Plant at Haldia, West Bengal. It is designed to manufacture 1.6 mtpa of high quality, low ash, metallurgical coke along with 120 MW of power generated from the waste heat produced in the process. The project with an investment of over Rs.1800 crores was envisaged as an integrated project, comprising of coke ovens and power plant. However, for reasons of expertise in the area of power generation and excellent track record of over 100 years, the power plant was handed over to Tata Power Co Ltd on 8 th November 2006. On the occasion of lighting up of the first module of the Coke Oven, Dr. T Mukherjee congratulated everybody on the achievement and said, "This is a moment of satisfaction for us that the lighting up of the Coke Oven has taken place in such a short span of time. This commendable job has been possible only through the hard work of the workers of Hooghly Met Coke and the support of Mr. Lakshman Seth and Mr. Rajiv Dubey. " While addressing the gathering, Mr. Lakshman Seth said, "I am really happy by the fast progress made by Met Coke in setting up its first module of Coke Ovens and would like to congratulate everybody who has been involved with it. " The ground-breaking ceremony for this project was performed by Shri Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Hon'ble Chief Minister of West Bengal on 18th February 2006. From then on, the project has been on the fast track, wherein the Company the Brick Laying ceremony was performed by Shri Nirupam Sen, Minister In-charge, Commerce & Industries, Government of West Bengal, on 31 st October 2006. On commissioning of the full capacity of 1.6 mtpa, HMC will be the largest stand-alone Coke Plant in India and one amongst the largest in the world. Besides generating additional revenue for Haldia Dock Complex through import of coal, its principal raw material, HMC will source most of its skilled and semi-skilled workforce locally to meet the aspirations of the people of Haldia, in particular and West Bengal, in general. The technology adopted by HMC i.e. Heat Recovery Coke Ovens, is relatively new to the country and is designed to meet the stringent environmental norms. Low ash metallurgical coke produced at Haldia, will be fully dedicated to Tata Steel Ltd for their Jamshedpur Works and the power produced, will be exported to the State Grid. HMC has created a record of sorts in completing the project in little over a year and a half since the ground breaking stage. Other modules will get commissioned progressively by the middle of 2008, thereby attaining the rated capacity of 1.6 mtpa of coke.
Nagarjuna moving up the value chain
Consolidating position as EPC provider
BL Research Bureau
Nagarjuna Construction’s climb up the value chain is increasingly becoming evident with the company bagging a Rs 1,558-crore order from SAIL in consortium with Korean company POSCO E&C.
The order, which involves setting up of a blast furnace complex for the IISCO steel plant in West Bengal, will bring in Rs 1,100 crore of revenue over a two-year period and raise the company’s order book to Rs 8,800 crore.
The order is significant in two respects: one, it is the company’s largest single order in the industrial infrastructure space; two, the company appears to be consolidating its position as an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) provider from being a mere civil structure builder in the industrial sector.
‘Value-add’ focus
It is now focusing on providing more value-add services such as electrical, mechanical and other plant works.
While the key blast furnace technology in the IISCO project will be provided by POSCO, all other activities will be undertaken by Nagarjuna.
The company has also stated that it will continue to bid for similar projects through its joint venture with POSCO and bid for ‘Balance of Plant’ contracts in power projects, which involves installation of factory works around the core power plant.
Centre to invest Rs 46,000 cr in NE power sector
Agartala, Sep 19 : In a bid to boost the power sector in the northeast region, the Centre has mooted a proposal of investing Rs 46,000 crore to set up new power transmission systems on public-private partnership(PPP) model.
Northeastern Electric Power Corporation(NEEPCO) officials here today said the transmission structure is expected to carry 46,000 MW power from different Northeastern states and neighbouring Bhutan to India.
The proposed investment, to be undertaken jointly with private companies and would entail setting up of 12 high-capacity transmission corridors through the region, to connect with the rest of the country by 2012.
Referring to the Planning Commission’s communiqué, officials here underlined that the proposed investments would be separated from the investments planned for the national power transmission grid.
The total hydro-power generation potential of the Northeast was almost 58,000 MW while the domestic demand in the region is expected to rise to 12,000 MW. The transmission capacity of the new system would have a capacity of 46,000 MW and the power produced will be transmitted outside the region, officials stated.
Sources here said that the country's total transmission capacity of 16,500 MW was insufficient to handle the 78,570 MW additional capacity that the government had targeted over the next five years.
They said that India had already signed an agreement with Bhutan for power utilisation and setting up a hydro electrical project in the Himalayan kingdom.
--- UNI
Source: IRIS (20 September 2007)
SAIL draws up a road map
Addressing the 35th annual general meeting of Steel Authority of India (SAIL), SK Roongta, chairman said, ``With the highly skilled and committed workforce, largely captive raw materials, nationwide marketing network and available infrastructure to support further expansions, SAIL (Q, N,C,F)* is today well poised to play a vital role in the growth phase of the country.``
The company`s strong financial performance in 2006-07 and during the first quarter of the current financial year has contributed to enhanced cash generation and further reduction in debt-equity ratio which would provide a strong financial base to support the modernisation and expansion programmes being undertaken by SAIL, Roongta said.
``To contribute to the growth of the Indian steel sector and maintain its leadership position in the domestic steel market, the company has prepared a roadmap for enhancing its annual hot metal production to over 26 MT through modernisation and expansion program being undertaken in all of its five integrated steel plants. The project completion schedules are also being compressed to the year 2010, against 2011-12 planned earlier,`` Roongta added.
The implementation of modernisation and expansion schemes would help in eliminating technological obsolescence, enriching product-mix with share of finished steel increasing to almost 100% and introduction of customer-centric processes, apart from upgrading infrastructural facilities in the plants to support higher volumes, he informed. Along with additional new facilities, existing facilities are also being upgraded to enable higher production of value added steel with overall improvement in productivity.
An IISI study has projected the demand for steel in India to reach 160 to 180 million tonnes by 2020, said the SAIL chairman. For sustaining its `market dominance in the long-term`, SAIL is `simultaneously working on a blueprint for growth beyond 2010`, Roongta said.
Dwelling at length upon the measures being taken in this regard, Roongta stated that SAIL`s raw material and power supply bases along with its district dealer network were being strengthened, and strategic alliances/joint ventures were being established with domestic and international companies for setting up greenfield steel plants, comprehensive business resource sharing, cement plants in Bhilai, Bokaro and Rourkela for utilisation of solid waste and value addition, steel-related SEZ, etc. ``To meet the growing needs of iron ore, apart from expanding existing mines at Bolani and Gua, new mines are being developed. Forest and environment clearances of the Rowghat iron ore deposit have been recommended by the State Government and are in an advanced stage for approval by the Central Government. As regards coking coal, actions have been taken for development of Sitanala as well as Tasra coal blocks. Besides, your company along with other major PSUs is seeking to obtain equity in international coal blocks as a long-term security measure. The production from existing captive coal mines of the company is also being stepped up. To augment availability of ferro-alloys, an MoU has been signed with Manganese Ore India Limited for setting up a joint venture unit at Bhilai,`` he stated.
Tata Steel venture lights up coke oven at Haldia
The plant will produce low ash, metallurgical coke
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The output will be dedicated to Jamshedpur unit
Will generate 120 MW of power from waste heat
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
KOLKATA: Hooghly Met Coke & Power Co. Ltd. (HMC), a joint venture between Tata Steel and the State-owned West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation, lit up its first module of coke ovens at its plant in Haldia in West Bengal.
The Rs. 1,800-crore project will be India’s largest standalone coke plant and among the largest in the world, once it commissions its full capacity of 1.6 million tonnes per annum by mid-2008. It will manufacture low ash, metallurgical coke along with 120 MW of power generated from the waste heat produced in the process. The power plant has been handed over to Tata Power Company on November 8, 2006, on grounds of its 100-year strong expertise in the area.
The ground-breaking for the fast-track project was done by West Bengal Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, on February 18, 2006. The output will be totally dedicated to the Jamshedpur plant of Tata Steel which is expanding its capacity. The power will be exported to the State grid.
A company spokesman said besides generating additional revenue for the Haldia Dock Complex through the import of coal, HMC’s principal raw material, the new company would source most of its skilled and semi-skilled workforce locally. It was also mentioned that the technology being used by HMC was relatively new to the country and was designed to meet the stringent environmental norms.
Largest commercial enterprise Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC) will invest over Rs 43,500 crore over the next five years, for capacity expansion, de-bottlenecking and quality upgradation. Of that amount Rs 30,000 crore will go into downstream integration as the company forays into the petrochemicals business it is also looking to acquire oil producing blocks, Chairman Sarthak Bahuria told journalists on the sidelines of the company’s 48th annual general meeting in Mumbai today. “We are planning an annual capex of Rs 7000-8000 crore in the next five years. A majority of the investment will be funded through internal accruals and borrowings as our financial health is quite good. If required, we may think of raising funds from the capital market, not in the next one or two years, but after that,” Bahuria said. The government-owned company controls 10 of India’s 19 refineries and accounts for 40.4 per cent share of national refining capacity. It has 60.2 million metric tonnes per annum (mmtpa) refining capacity. Apart from its current Panipat and Koyali petrochemicals projects, IOC plans to develop world class petrochemicals production centres at Paradip, Haldia and Chennai. Open to partners The 15 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) grassroots refinery coming up at Paradip will be integrated with petrochemicals units for paraxylene, propylene and styrene with an investment of over Rs 26,000 crore. “IOC is actively pursuing upstream integration through exploration and production activities both within and outside the country,” the chairman said. Behuria said that the Rs 14,500 crore naptha cracker project in Panipat, Haryana, is scheduled to be commissioned in 2009. IOC would like to have partners in this project but has not been able to rope in any so far. “We are open to have a partner in the project, but we are not wasting time in finding out partners,” he said, when asked whether the company was looking at a partnership with Mittals.
Titagarh mulls venture with Freight Car, GE Group co
Friday, 21 September , 2007, 10:23
Kolkata: The Kolkata-based Titagarh Wagons Ltd has proposed to form a joint venture with Freight Car of the US and “one of the GE Group companies” to set up a special purpose, high-capacity railway wagon manufacturing facility in West Bengal at an estimated investment of $35 million.
According to J.P. Chowdhary, Chairman and Managing Director of the Titagarh Group of Companies, the proposed facility would most probably be set up near the group’s existing wagon-manufacturing facility at Titagarh. While Freight Car of the US has a capacity to manufacture 18,000 wagons per annum, Titagarh Wagons is equipped to manufacture 4,000 wagons annually.
Chowdhary, along with representatives of Freight Car, met the West Bengal Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, at the Writers’ Buildings here on Thursday to discuss the proposed project.
Land allotment
Speaking to newspersons after the meeting, Chowdhary said the Chief Minister had been requested to facilitate allotment of 100 acres of land “in the vicinity of the existing wagon manufacturing plant at Titagarh” so that the project could be set up there. The techno-economic feasibility report of the proposed project was being prepared, he said.
Posco to construct a captive port in Orissa
24 September 2007
Bhubaneswar: South Korean steel giant Posco is planning to start construction of a captive port a year ahead of actual work commences on its 12-million tonne steel plan in 2009, against the backdrop of huge concerns on tardy progress of its Rs52,000 crore greenfield project in Orissa, and opposition by local villagers to the project.
Posco-India CMD Soung-Sik Cho said that the company would start work for its captive port early next year, while construction of the proposed steel plant was expected only in 2009, with a view to seek quick redressal of the company's concerns for the removal of hurdles in land acquisition and mining lease.
He clarified that preparatory work such as the raising of boundary walls and peripheral structures would commence in a month, but the actual construction of the plant will still have to wait on account of very slow progress at ground level.
Cho said that the demarcation of 193 acres of land was likely to take place by the end of the month, admitting that Posco-India was yet to be handed over a single piece of land out of the 4,004 acre required for the project near Paradip.
The demarcation will be followed by registration, after which the company would take physical possession of the land. The company expressed the hope of a speeding up of the land acquisition process in due course, as 89 per cent of the area comprises of government land, where as 11 per cent was private land.
Cho said that work on the project should not be delayed any further, and was hopeful of it gaining the required momentum before cost escalation becomes a matter of serious concern. Presently, he saw costs at "affordable" levels.
On the Indian side, amidst rising fears of the likelihood of the steel major terminating its Indian plans for the Rs52,000-crore project on account of insufferable delays, the government in New Delhi has assured Seoul that the requisite clearances would be expedited.
The assurance came during external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee's recently concluded visit to Seoul, during which there were talks with his counterpart Song Min-soon, according to sources. Though one of the largest foreign investment projects in the country, it is yet get off the ground on account of red-tape delays from various government departments.
Through all stops have been pulled out, and even environmental clearances for the plant have been given, Posco faces the problem of securing captive iron ore mines for its proposed 12 MT plant at Paradip in Orissa. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has been monitoring the progress of the project, and has asked the state government to resolve various issues expeditiously.
According to sources, of 400 acres sought by POSCO, 300 acres have already been allocated to the company, and issues pertaining to reforestation and resettlement of project affected persons (PAP) have also been settled. A significant section in the government opines that continuous delays could leave the South Korean steel major with no option but to end its plans, which would be a development that could sink the hopes of many a potential investor abroad by sending non-conducive signals.
Though cho did not specify the present quantum of cost escalation, he did say that it was difficult to calculate at this juncture, and would be of concern if there were further delays in the project. He attributed year-long delay already caused to the project to a "failure of the system for industrialisation," as there were so many stake-holders and a large number of officers and political elements in the decision making process which made things move at a snails pace.
Cho said that opposition to the project was waning, as of three gram panchayats under the project area, people of Gada Kujangaand Nuagaon were convinced about the benefits that would accrue from the plant, with assistance from intelligentsia and others. The last quarter of resistance remains in Dhinkia, but there too the residents would be made aware of the development process that the Posco plant was set to usher.
Another area of concern for the company is the mining lease, which is imperative to ensure a steady flow of iron ore for the Posco plant.
The plant would need 20 million tonnes of ore per annum, and Cho was hopeful about the company's prospects for obtaining lease of Khandadhar mines, notwithstanding opposition from Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd and other aspirants.
Cho also said that once the project took off, the plant's superior 'finex' technology would make it qualitatively different from other plants that use blast furnace technology.
Jai Balaji plans SEZ with 4.5 bln rupee investment
Thu Sep 27, 2007 3:06pm IST
KOLKATA (Reuters) - Steel maker Jai Balaji Industries Ltd plans to invest 4.5 billion rupees over three years to set up a special economic zone for steel processing units in West Bengal, a top company official said on Thursday.
"We have received in-principle approval from the Indian government to set up the SEZ," Chairman and Managing Director Aditya Jajodia told reporters following the company's shareholder meet.
The company has identified 300 acres of land near the eastern town of Durgapur for the export-oriented SEZ, he said.
"The investments will be funded through a mix of internal accruals, debt and issue of fresh equity," he said.
Jai Balaji has a steel-making capacity of 1.2 million tonnes with two plants in West Bengal and one each in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.
BHEL may bag NTPC's boiler order
Monday, October 8, 2007 (New Delhi):
Size does matter when it comes to India's largest power equipment manufacturer BHEL.
NDTV has learnt that the company is going to bag its first supercritical boiler order from NTPC, which would successfully transform the company into a complete power provider.
According to sources BHEL will announce its first set of orders for supercritical boilers soon. The company has emerged as a sole bidder for NTPC's Bhar project in Bihar for which it needs supply two 660 mw supercritical boilers to NTPC.
BHEL is also planning to make the big leap by participating in some mega power projects soon. Sources also say that it will place final bids for two 800-mw Krishnapatnam project by October end.
The company is also planning to participate in NTPC's three 660-mw North Karampura, Jharkhand project. It is exploring joint ventures with PSUs for supercritical projects.
The government on its part has some ambitious plans to boost power generation during the 11th five-year plan. And analysts say that BHEL is all set to leverage this opportunity.
The current order book for BHEL stands at Rs 75,000 crore, experts believe that this order book size can double over the next two years if BHEL bids competitively in the upcoming projects.
Lalu’s poll sops for Bihar on track
Raghvendra Rao
NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 9: While he has been emphatically ruling out the possibility of mid-term polls, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav is losing no time in showering his ministry’s largesse on his home state. Considering the political uncertainty at the Centre, Lalu apparently plans to devote more time and attention to Bihar, criss-crossing important places, speeding up works related to new railway projects.
Next week, the minister is scheduled to go on a foundation stone laying spree in Bihar, laying stones for 13 railway projects, including for two major locomotive manufacturing units and six new railway lines.
On October 13, Lalu would lay the foundation stone for a new diesel locomotive factory at Marhaura in Chhapra district, his own constituency. The Rs 2,000-crore project, expected to produce around 100 diesel locomotives annually, is one of the biggest railway project related to setting up a rolling stock manufacturing facility.
On October 15, the minister is scheduled to lay the foundation stone a new electric locomotive factory at Madhepura at a cost of Rs 1,294 crore. This, according to sources, is Lalu’s way of compensating Madhepura, the constituency he relinquished in favour of Chhapra after the last elections.
Even as the Railway Ministry is in the process of roping in private players to set up both these manufacturing units, the minister, it is learnt, was keen to do the honours as quickly as possible.
The two new lines between Bariarpur-Mananpur (via Kharagpur-Lachimpur-Barahat) and Sultanganj and Katuria (via Asarganj, Tarapur and Belhar) were accorded approval by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on August 16 and would cost Rs 251 crore and Rs 289 crore, respectively.
Further, the minister would lay stones for a couple of extension works at Jamalpur workshop, two new manned level crossing at Kharia Pipra Halt (between Ganganiyan and Kalyanpur road railway station) and between Akbarnagar and Maheshi railway stations, a wagon rehabilitation workshop at Barauni and would inaugurate a platform capable of handling a 24-coach train at Sultanganj.
Sources close to the minister said that Lalu also plans to spend a major portion of the forthcoming navratras in Bihar. “He would keep coming to Delhi in between, as and when needed,” said a source.
Vedanta invites EoIs for Orissa project
10 Oct, 2007, 0300 hrs IST,Rakhi Mazumdar, TNN
KOLKATA: Vedanta Aluminium has decided to invite expressions of interest (EoIs) from top global mining companies. The move comes close on the heels of the government support for its controversial mining project in Orissa’s Niyamgiri hills following a recent Supreme Court hearing last week.
The company is part of Vedanta Resources, the London Stock Exchange-listed global mining and metals major, with interests in aluminium, zinc, copper, silver, lead and iron ore in India, Australia and Africa. Vedanta Aluminium has invited bids from contractors interested to take up open-cast mining and transportation of bauxite up to 5 million tonne per annum on a long-term basis.
The company has set a fortnight’s deadline for submission of bids and hopes to start mining operations within the next six months or so. Apart from Niyamgiri hills, Vedanta has also applied to the state government for bauxite mines in two to three other areas in the state.
“We are keen to start operations at our captive mines as soon as possible,” a company official said. Vedanta needs bauxite to feed the smelter it had commissioned earlier this year at Lanjigarh in Orissa. The smelter, part of an $800-million project, is expected to produce 1 MT of alumina per annum.
Delays in mining have, so far, forced the company to source bauxite from Gujarat and even resort to imports to meet requirements. There has been opposition to the company’s plans for an open-cast mine on the ground that it would disturb the rich bio-diversity of the hills.
However, the company received a major shot in the arm recently at the Supreme Court when the environment ministry said the mining would only affect a marginal amount of forest land and it would have “negligible” impact on the local flora.
“If the total forest area required for bauxite mining component of the project were to be compared with the total forest area of the district, it works out to be only 0.26%,” said an environment ministry report submitted to the court.
Tata Steel keen to build captive jetty on Haldia river front
Project cost estimated at Rs 100 crore
“The projected increase in our traffic calls for a dedicated berthing and handling facility captive in nature at Haldia.” – Mr B. Muthuraman
Santanu Sanyal
Haldia, Oct 10 Tata Steel is keen to have its own jetty on the river front at Haldia.
“We will design, construct and develop our own captive riverine jetty at Haldia to meet our export-import throughput requirement,” says Mr B. Muthuraman, Managing Director of Tata Steel, in a letter to the Chairman of Kolkata Port Trust.
Jetty features
The letter also explains the kind of facility Tata Steel would like to have. The location of the jetty should be outside the lockgate but not far from the existing oil jetties on the riverfront.
The proposed jetty will primarily handle clean cargo and have the final capacity of two million tonnes (mt) annually. The draft of the Hooghly river at the jetty should be the same as that at present.
There should be an open back up storage space of 15 acres with a railway siding of 800 metres. The cost of the project complete with two mobile harbour cranes and back up area has been estimated at Rs 100 crore.
To finish project in 2 yrs
Setting the time limit for the project, the Tata Steel Managing Director has expressed his desire to have the jetty commissioned on September 1, 2009, exactly two years from now. The plan is to sign the concession agreement by May 2008, start construction of the jetty and development of backup facilities by September next year and complete construction and installation of equipment by August 2009.
Tata Steel’s current throughput of export-import traffic at Haldia is around two million tonnes, around 90 per cent being the import of raw materials such as coking coal, limestone, coke and other materials. The raw material requirement is projected to rise many times more with the completion of the expansion of the company’s Jamshedpur plant, from the present five million tonnes to seven mt by the middle of 2008 and further to 10 mt by 2010. Tata Steel also proposes to set up at Jharkhand a greenfield steel plant of the capacity of 12 mt in two phases.
“The projected increase in our traffic calls for a dedicated berthing and handling facility captive in nature at Haldia which is and will continue to be an important gateway to exports and imports of not only Tata Steel but also other group companies,” Mr Muthuraman has observed.
It might be noted that a few years ago TM International Logistics, a joint venture between Tata Steel and Martrade of Germany, acquired on long-term lease a berth (No. 12) at Haldia for captive use. The throughput of the berth was 1.17 mt in 2005-06, 0.89 mt in 06-07 and 5.34 lakh tonnes so far in the current fiscal.
Haldia-based Hooghly Metcoke, a joint venture between Tata Steel and West Bengal Government to produce coke for steel plants, too has shown interest in having its river front jetty at Haldia, it is learnt.
ONGC to invest Rs 4000 cr to boost output
From Our Spl Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Oct 10 – Faced with declining oil production in the State, the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has chalked out an Assam Renewal Project with an investment outlay of Rs 4,000 crore. Briefing members of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Union Minister, Murli Deora said that ONGC plans to invest Rs 2500 crore in total revamping of old installations and pipeline net work to reduce the surface bottleneck and improve production.
There is a plan to invest Rs 1500 crore to drill hi-tech wells and optimization of artificial lift. ONGC has engaged internationally reputed Halliburton for production optimisation, reservoir management and to enhance oil production in major oil fields of Assam Assets.
The meeting today was on the topic of 'Performance of Oil PSUs during the last three years – the Way Forward'.
The Government has sanctioned the proposal of Oil India Limited (OIL) for fresh equity issue of 10 per cent of its paid up capital through Initial Public Offer to enable the company to get listed on the stock exchanges. Approval has also been accorded to issue additional one per cent of its paid up capital to the employees of OIL, the Minister said.
Fresh issue of 10 per cent of its paid up capital would meet SEBI requirement for listing of the Company's share on the stock exchanges. This would not only make OIL more amenable to market discipline but would also boost the company's image, Deora said.
Besides, it would also help OIL to raise resources for its future expansion and growth. The additional allocation for its employees would motivate them towards better performance, he explained.
About the agreement between Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) and Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), Deora said his Ministry was trying to expedite the clearance to declare Silghat as the Port of Call by the Ministry of Shipping. NRL and BPL signed a Supply Agreement in May to supply 10 Million Metric Ton of diesel.
The Minister further added that to improve the reliability of product evacuation in future, NRL has entered into agreement with OIL for transportation of white oil products from Numaligarh to Siliguri through a product pipeline.
While the pipeline project is being implemented by OIL, NRL is setting up product Receiving and Dispatch Terminal at Siliguri at an estimated cost of Rs 149.57 crore and Dispatch Terminal at Numaligarh at a cost of Rs 4.32crore.
About the company's future plans, the Minister said NRL has chalked out plans to set up a wax project, and a Naptha Splitter Unit. Preparation of feasibility report for production of Euro-IV MS/HSD in line with ‘auto fuel policy’ has been initiated.
NTPC Ltd and Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) will form a joint venture company with the objective to set up a 1980 MW coal-based power station at Nabinagar in Bihar’s Aurangabad district. The first unit is expected to start generating power in 48 months from the date of main plant award and subsequent units at an intervals of 9 months thereafter. Investment: Rs.9500 Crore.Status: MOU signedLocation: Nabinagar, Aurangabad, Bihar [14th October, 2007]
Vedanta Group is planning to set up a 1,500-megawatt coal based thermal power plant in Burdwan, West Bengal jointly with Bharat Aluminium Co. Ltd.
Investment:
Status: Proposed
Location: Burdwan, West Bengal
http://www.vedantaresources.com
[15th October, 2007]
WB to get first auto components park
Kolkata October 16, 2007
West Bengal will have its first auto components manufacturing park in West Midnapore district near Guptamoni spread over 500 acres.
"We are in talks with the developer, Bengal Shristi Group, to finalise the details of the project," Commerce & Industry Minister Nirupam Sen said here today.
Bengal Shrishti is in talks with some German companies that might set up manufacturing units in the park, which is likely to get an SEZ status, though no final decision has been taken on the issue.
The developer will go for direct purchase of land for the project, Sen added.
Steel makers to invest Rs.725 billion in West Bengal
Tuesday October 16, 07:57 PM
Raghunathpur, Purulia (West Bengal) Oct 16 (IANS) It is raining steel projects in West Bengal as it has received two fresh proposals. The state in the past week alone has received proposals worth Rs.725 billion to set up steel plants, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya said here Tuesday.
Laying the foundation stone of a five million-tonne integrated steel plant of Jai Balaji Industries Ltd here, about 350 km from Kolkata, Bhattacharya said the state government has received two more proposals from Adhunik Steel and Shyam Steel.
'Adhunik Steel would invest Rs.45 billion for a 1.1 million-tonne steel plant while Shyam Steel will invest Rs.20 billion for a 1.1 million-tonne steel plant, besides a cement plant,' said Bhattacharya.
'Adhinik Steel's plant would generate about 7,000 direct jobs while Shyam Steel's will generate 5,000,' said Bhattacharya.
After the Jindal group inked a deal for a Rs.350 billion mega-project in West Midnapore's Salboni on Oct 5, West Bengal's steel sector saw two proposed investments to the tune of Rs.310 billion.
Videocon Natural Resources Ltd, floated by the Videocon group, agreed to team up with a US company to set up a three million-tonne steel plant along with a 1,200 MW power plant in the state, entailing investments of Rs.150 billion.
Jai Balaji Industries Ltd also announced its project for which the chief minister laid the foundation stone Tuesday.
The Jai Balaji group, a leading producer of steel in West Bengal, will be investing Rs.160 billion to build the steel plant, a captive power complex of 1,215 MW and a 3-million tonne cement plant.
The chief minister also said a small township is coming up near Raghunathpur.
'A real estate company has submitted a proposal to build a 2,500 unit township near Raghunathpur. We have suggested to the developer to build flats for the economically weaker section as well as for middle and upper segments,' he added.
Speaking on employment opportunities in the backward and Maoist-violence affected Purulia district, he said the state government has taken up the responsibility of training about 15,000 students with technical skills so that they are absorbed in the upcoming projects.
Jai Balaji Group has six of its nine steel-related manufacturing units in West Bengal.
The Jai Balaji project will be implemented in phases with the first phase of 2 million tonnes to be commissioned by 2010. The investment will create direct employment opportunities for nearly 10,000 people besides indirect employment for 50,000 people.
Investment : Rs.1100 Crores
Status : Proposed
Location: Adityapur, Jamshedpur
[22 October 2007]