Gear up SAIL, says steel minister

Chennai: Union steel minister Ram Vilas Paswan has called upon the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) to modernise and expand itself to meet the growing steel demand.

Addressing the company's directors, he said SAIL's growth plans need to be completed within three years instead of five as scheduled earlier. He called upon them to take all steps to make the organisation strong enough not only to withstand all impediments but develop into a leading international enterprise as well.

SAIL's board accorded approval for three new projects at an estimated cost of Rs350 crore. The projects cleared include the rebuilding of the coke oven battery (COB) at the Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) at a cost of Rs176 crore. This project will help the BSP meet its coke requirement for enhanced hot metal capacity envisaged in its modernisation and expansion plan on a sustained basis. It would be the 6th COB of SAIL to be taken up for revamping and retrofitting with the state-of-the-art pollution control measures under this growth plan.

The other project approved by the board is the installation of a computerised project system at the steel melting shop-II of the Bokaro Steel Plant at a cost of Rs31 crore. The on-line process system is the latest of its kind and will be integrated with the existing system for improvement in the quality of steel produced.

As on date, projects involving a total investment of around Rs17,300 crore are under various stages of implementation by SAIL. Among the major projects is the Rs1,553 crore expansion plan for the Salem Steel Plant in Tamil Nadu.