Jindal-Buddhadeb meet could kick-start stalled Salboni project

The proposed Salboni steel project of JSW in Bengal, which could bring the state its largest private investment, received a boost today with Sajjan Jindal meeting West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Jindal promised to start work on both the steel and power plants in six months.
 
"The 3-million-tonne steel plant will be completed in 30 months once work starts," Jindal announced after the meeting.

The Rs17,280-crore group plans to buy 500 acres of land near Durgapur on its own, for setting up the power plant. According to Biswadip Gupta, CEO of JSW Bengal Steel, the company would save on transportation costs by not carrying the coal to Salboni.

However, in Salboni, the Maoist presence had, earlier, led to law and order concerns with the rebels triggering a blast targeting the chief minister as he was returning from the foundation stone-laying ceremony for the steel plant on 2 November 2008.

Following the laying of the foundation stone, the project had to be put on hold because of the global financial turmoil with JSW halting the work on the project as demand for steel plunged and prices came down. JSW cited non-availability of funds for the delay.

The security aspect figured in the talks today and the chief minister sought to allay concerns promising to extend adequate security to the project. After the meeting, Jindal said the security of his employees was paramount to him.

The total investment in the Salboni project is expected to be around Rs10,000 crore. JSW had earlier said that construction work on the project could start only in mid-2011. However, with the likelihood of Japanese steel giant JFE partnering JSW, the chances that the project may finally take off have brightened considerably.