The Hindu Business Line : Jindals may set up finishing mill in Jharkhand

THE Jindals may set up a finishing mill in Jharkhand to get the necessary iron ore-mining lease from the State for their proposed 5-million-tonne steel plant project in West Bengal.

The move is aimed at pacifying the Jharkhand Government, which has categorically stated that it would not offer any mining lease if the consuming unit is set up outside the State.

The Jindals are eager to set up a blast furnace-based steel plant at Kharagpur in West Bengal. The project, estimated to cost Rs 12,000 crore, will have two phases, the first producing 2.5 mt of steel. If the Jindals go ahead with their plan of setting up a finishing mill in Jharkhand, their total investment in West Bengal will come down to Rs 10,000 crore, the remaining part being invested in Jharkhand.

Industry sources said that this solution seems acceptable to both the State governments and the Jindals. However, no final announcement has been made by any of the parties.

It was learnt that the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, had a meeting with the Mr Madhu Khoda, Mining Minister of Jharkhand, on the sidelines of a Confederation of Indian Industry meeting in the city on Tuesday.

Later in the meeting, Mr Khoda said that the private steel maker would be given the licence if it carried out "some value addition" in the State.

At the same meeting, Mr Sajjan Jindal, Managing Director of Jindal Vijayanagar Steel Ltd, said that he was optimistic about the project and work could start within the next two months. The project is likely to take 36-48 months from the zero date for commissioning and it will directly employ 10,000 people.

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