Cyrus Mistry, Naveen Patnaik discuss Kalinganagar steel plant

BHUBANESWAR: Cyrus Mistry, who will succeed Ratan Tata as Tata Sons Chairman in December, met Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday evening and discussed the progress of six-milliontonne steel plant at Kalinganagar, about 130 km from here.

"It was just a courtesy call to the chief minister. We apprised him about the progress of the Kalinganagar steel project ," Mistry told reporters. Mistry was accompanied by Tata Steel MD HM Nerurkar and other executives for discussion with the chief minister and other state government officials.

The first phase of its greenfield project at Kalinganagar in Odisha will be ready by March 2014, Nerurkar said, replying to a query. "We hope that the first phase will be completed by the early part of FY14," Nerurkar added. The Rs 23,000-crore project will be completed in phases .

While the 3-mt first phase is likely to be operational by March 2014, the second phase with a similar capacity will be commissioned by FY15. Tata Steel, the world's seventh largest steelmaker, has already invested Rs 11,000 crore in the new plant.

The company also plans to set up a 50,000 tpa ferrochrome plant and a 4 lakh tonne steel rolling mill at the proposed SEZ at Gopalpur where Tata Steel is the anchor investor.

Tata Steel already has land for the projects at Gopalpur but is waiting for clearance of Coastal Regulation Zone by the Union Environment Ministry , Nerurkar informed.

Asked about the proposed Karnataka steel plant project, he said: "The company has signed an expression of interest (EoI) with the state government for a 6 million tonne steel plant. Though the company has not yet announced the location , sources said, it might set up the plant at Haveri near Hubli in Karnataka.