RSP expansion may help raise SAIL output to 26 mt in 3 yrs

Kolkata: The Union Minister of Chemicals & Fertilisers and Steel, Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, today laid the foundation stone for work on the first phase of expansion and modernisation of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) at Rourkela.

Others present on the occasion today included the Orissa Chief Minister, Mr Naveen Patnaik, the Secretary in the Union Ministry of Steel, Mr R.S. Pandey, and the Chairman of SAIL, Mr S.K. Roongta, among others.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Paswan said the expansion programme of RSP was a key component of SAIL’s plan to augment its annual production to 26 million tonnes within the next three years. RSP had recorded its best ever profit of Rs 1,336 crore in 2006-07. He expressed the hope that its profit would surpass Rs 1,500 crore in the current fiscal. He urged the Orissa Chief Minister to sort out problems pertaining to sanction of iron ore mining leases in the state to SAIL.

The expansion project, to be implemented at a cost of about Rs 10,000 crore, envisages an increase in the plant’s hot metal capacity from two million tonnes per annum (mtpa) at present to 4.5 mtpa in the next three years. RSP, by then, will account for about 18 per cent of Steel Authority of India Ltd’s (SAIL) steel making capacity. RSP currently accounts for 13 per cent of SAIL’s production.

RSP has an installed capacity of two mtpa of hot metal, 1.90 mtpa of crude steel and 1.67 mtpa of saleable steel. Against this, production during 2006-07 stood at 2.124 million tonnes of hot metal, 1.990 million tonnes of crude steel and 1.942 million tonnes of saleable steel.

The production target for the current fiscal on the existing asset base has been pegged at 2.220 million tonnes of hot metal, 2.08 million tonnes of crude steel and 2.065 million tonnes of saleable steel.

RSP has targeted a turnover in excess of Rs 7,000 crore in 2007-08, up from Rs 6,400 crore recorded in 2006-07. The net profit in the current fiscal is expected to surpass the figure of Rs 1,336 crore achieved in 2006-07, according to highly-placed sources in RSP.