The Hindu Business Line : Tata Steel signs pact with Bengal Govt for Hooghly Met Coke venture

(From left) Mr Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Sons, exchanging documents with Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Chief Minister of West Bengal, along with Mr B. Muthuraman, Managing Director, Tata Steel, in Kolkata on Wednesday. - Parth Sanyal

Kolkata , Jan. 12

TATA Steel on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding with the West Bengal Government for setting up its first greenfield project in the State: an 8,00,000-tonne-per-annum merchant coke oven plant at Haldia.

The company will set up a joint venture company with the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC), to be called Hooghly Met Coke & Power Co Ltd.

At a press conference along with the Tata Sons Chairman, Mr Ratan Tata, the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, said the joint company would be set up and registered shortly.

Apart from the coke oven plant, the Tatas are also interested in investing in the automobile and energy sectors in West Bengal, Mr Tata said at the press conference.

The initial investment for the Haldia project would be Rs 700 crore, and the Tatas proposed to fund it through a mix of debt and equity.

The new plant would adopt the heat recovery route for production of coke. It would also generate 60 MW of electricity by utilising the hot flue gas from the coke ovens. This power would be sold to the West Bengal State Electricity Board (WBSEB).

The order for machinery and equipment is expected to be placed during 2005. The first phase of the project is expected to be commissioned within 24 months. Its total land requirement would be around 200 acres.

A formal agreement was signed on Wednesday by Mr B. Muthuraman, Managing Director, Tata Steel, and Mr Gopal Krishna, Managing Director, WBIDC.

A separate tripartite memorandum of agreement for a power purchase agreement was signed by Dr T. Mukherjee, Deputy Managing Director, Tata Steel; Mr Krishna, Managing Director of WBIDC; and Mr Malay Dey, Chairman of WBSEB.

The new company will sell metallurgical coke to international and domestic players simultaneously. Even Tata Steel's Jamshedpur unit will buy coke from this company.

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