VIJAYAWADA: Visakhapatnam Steel Plant managed by Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) is all set for diversification and has several projects up its sleeve.
It is awaiting clearance from the Central government for mining iron ore from Kukunoor in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh jointly with Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation Limited (APMDC).
“Kukunoor has large deposits of iron ore and survey held several years ago put the iron ore deposits in the area to be around 25 million to 30 million tonne of good quality iron ore. But, the survey is an old one and we expect more reserves of ore in the area, given its proximity to Chhattisgarh, which is rich in iron ore deposits,” Vizag Steel CMD P Madhusudhan said.
Vizag Steel will be setting up a wheel manufacturing unit in Uttar Pradesh with an investment of Rs 1,500 crore in the next three years to manufacture 1 lakh metric tonnes of wheels for Indian Railways. Similarly, it is investing another Rs 500 crore for setting up axle manufacturing unit with capacity of 50,000 metric tonne in West Bengal. The negotiations are under progress.
Further a joint venture with Powergrid is being started in Visakhapatnam for transmission line towers with an investment of Rs 500 crore, which too is expected to commence operation in three years’ time.
In accordance with national steel policy of the Central government, special purpose vehicles are being set up in different states for development of steel plants and as part of Odisha based SPV, Vizag steel was nominated as the lead plant.
“Dedicated mining lease has to be provided and we will be developing the infrastructure for the steel factory, which can be set up by ourselves or outsiders can be involved in PPP mode. We have made the proposal and the draft MoU is still under the perusal of Odisha govt,” Madhusudhan explained.