Back SAIL plants lining up new oxygen units
Kohinoor Mandal
| Co will not invest money but will only provide land |
Capacity expansion
Bhilai Steel Plant would add 2,500 tonnes per day of fresh capacity.
It would be followed by 1,250 tonnes per day at Bokaro, 700 tonnes per day at Durgapur and 550 tonnes per day at Rourkela.
Kolkata , June 2
As a part of the first phase of capacity expansion programme drawn out in the Corporate Plan 2011-12, all the four integrated steel plants of Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) are lining up new oxygen plants.
Sources said Bhilai Steel Plant would add 2,500 tonnes per day of fresh capacity. It would be followed by 1,250 tonnes per day at Bokaro, 700 tonnes per day at Durgapur and 550 tonnes per day at Rourkela.
The public sector steel major, which recorded a net profit of Rs 4,013 crore, would not be investing any money in these new plants.
All these oxygen plants would be set on the BOO (build-own-operate) model.
Plant agreement
It is learnt that on May 19 , Bokaro Steel Plant signed an agreement with Inox Air Products Ltd for setting up a 1,250 tonnes per day oxygen plant in the next 24 months.
Durgapur Steel Plant, the sources said, is close to signing a similar agreement with the global industrial gases major, Praxair, for setting up a 700 tonnes per day oxygen plant. SAIL would only be providing the land for the plant.
According to sources, Rourkela Steel Plant has floated a tender for its proposed 550 tonnes per day unit.
"Some of the major players have been short-listed. A final decision is likely to be taken soon," sources said.
A senior official of the SAIL headquarters said the proposed oxygen plant of Bhilai Steel Plant is actively under consideration.
These are only the initial oxygen capacities that are being planned for these four integrated steel plants.
According to the Corporate Plan 2011-12, these capacities would be increased further.
Second phase
In the second phase, both Bhilai and Bokaro would be adding fresh oxygen capacities of 1,250 tonnes per day each.
Durgapur Steel Plant would add another 1,000 tonnes per day and Rourkela would add another 550 tonnes per day.
SAIL might not be investing any capital for these fresh oxygen capacities but it has invested approximately Rs 4,400 crore in several other projects spread all over the country.
These projects are under various stages of implementation.
Other projects
Some of the important projects are a bloom caster at Durgapur Steel Plant, slab caster at Bhilai, modification of MaeWest block system at Bokaro, and rebuilding of three coke oven batteries each at Bhilai, Bokaro and Rourkela steel plants.
SAIL is also implementing Enterprise Resource Planning across the organisation in a phased manner.
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