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Vedanta Group firm Sesa Goa today said it is looking at setting up small steel plants of 1—1.5 million tonnes capacity in Orissa and Jharkhand.
“We have started looking at Orissa, where one of our group companies has an MoU for setting up a steel plant. We have started pursuing it with the state government,” Sesa Goa MD and CEO, Mr P K Mukherjee said.
He said the company is also mulling a steel plant in Jharkhand, where it has a prospecting licence for carrying out mining operations.
“Mining is definite (in the state) and having a steel plant is also in our plans there. We are seriously looking at acquiring about 800 acres of land by the end of this year. That will show our intent that we are serious,” he said.
When asked about the size of the plants, he said it could be of 1—1.5 million tonnes.
Talking about Jharkhand plant, Mr Mukherjee said that a decision on this can be expected after land acquisition there.
“Having about 500 acres of land is the minimum requirement setting up a steel plant,” he noted.
Asked about the Bellary Steel, whose acquisition by Sesa Goa has been challenged by the JSW Steel in the Supreme Court, Mr Mukherjee said status quo is maintained as directed by the apex court.
Last month, Sesa Goa had acquired the Karnataka based Bellary Steel and Alloys (BSAL), put on the block by a consortium of lenders led by IFCI, for Rs 220 crore and its assets have also been transferred to the company.
However, JSW Steel — another bidder for BSAL — challenged the bidding process in Supreme Court, following which the apex court directed the concerned parties to maintain status quo till next hearing.
Mr Mukherjee refused to comment on Supreme Court hearings.
He said the company will require about two months time to conduct a feasibility study for setting up a steel plant there, if it gets the decision in its favour.
Bellary Steel, earlier promoted by S Madhav and S Parvathi, had embarked on setting up an integrated 0.5 MTPA capacity steel plant with provision it to 2 MTPA. It has 700 acres of freehold land in Bellary.
The project, however, could not be completed and ran into debt, following which the lenders consortium led by IFCI put it on the block for sale.
“Only after feasibility study we can talk about the size of the plant (in Bellary) or whether we will go for tie up or how much money we will be investing. Now it all depends upon the Supreme Court order,” Mr Mukherjee said.
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