State-owned SAIL has plans to more than double the capacity of its Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) to around 9 million tonne per annum at an investment of Rs 30,000 crore, a move which will boost supplies to sectors like defence, oil & gas, and automobiles among others.
Post expansion, which will come up over an area of 1,200 acre, RSP will alone contribute around 25 per cent to SAIL’s overall 35 million tonne per annum (MTPA) production capacity target by 2030, Alok Verma, Director In-Charge, RSP told PTI in an interview.
Located at Rourkela in Odisha, around 320 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, RSP holds the distinction of being the first public sector steel plant in India.
It was set up in the 1950s with German collaboration with an initial capacity of 1 MT.
The plant became operational on February 3, 1959, when the then President of India Rajendra Prasad lit up the first blast furnace Parvati.
At present, the total steelmaking capacity of Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) stands at 20.30 MTPA of which RSP’s contribution is 4.4 MTPA.
Speaking further, the official said RSP’s capacity will be enhanced by 5 MTPA to 9.4 MTPA by 2030.
“With the expansion, we aim to garner a sizeable share of the sectors which we cater to,” Verma said adding RSP produces plates, hot rolled (HR) coils, spiral welded and electric resistance welded pipes, cold rolled non-oriented (CRNO) which find applications in areas like ship building, rail wagons, LPG cylinder, automobiles, oil and gas, motors, generators, and transformers.
The plant also has a dedicated mill to manufacture naval grade, armour grade and quenched and tempered plates for various naval and defense applications.
Sharing the details, Verma said approximately 1,200 acres on the south eastern side of the plant will be required for taking up this mega green field expansion project to be implemented with an investment of around Rs 30,000 crore.
As part of expansion, the major facilities are planned. It includes raw material handling plant, coke oven stamp charge battery, sinter plant, thin slab caster-direct rolling, cold rolling mill, silicon mill and logistics, he said.
Besides, a new blast furnace and steel melting shop will be set up.
As a prerequisite for this expansion, a railway line connecting Dumertra station to RSP is under construction for smooth movement of raw materials and finished goods to strengthen logistics. It will avoid load on Bondamunda Yard.
The second rail connection work is being executed by South Eastern Railways on cost deposit scheme for which the requisite amount has been deposited to Indian Railways by RSP.
SAIL, under Ministry of Steel, is among the top three steel manufacturers in India.
Besides RSP, the company has four other integrated steel units namely Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP) and Burnpur Steel Plant in West Bengal, Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) in Chhattisgarh and Bokaro Steel Plant in Jharkhand.