Ispat signs MoU for Jharkhand steel project

KOLKATA: Ispat Industries has signed an MoU for setting up a 2.8-million tonne steel plant at Manoharpur, Jharkhand. The company plans to expand the capacity of the plant to five million tonne per annum (mtpa) in the second phase.

The integrated steel plant will see an estimated investment of Rs 6,750 crore and will be set up in phases over 2,500 acres. Work on the project will begin within a year from the date of signing of the MoU.The MoU was signed by Vinod Mittal, managing director, Ispat Industries, and KK Khandelwal, secretary, department of industries, Jharkhand, recently.

The steel project is likely to generate direct and indirect employment for thousands of people, he added.Incidentally, the announcement is the third major investment plan announced by Ispat in the past two months. On January 10, Ispat signed an MoU with the government of Chhattisgarh for setting up a 600-mw power project at an estimated investment of Rs 2,500 crore.

Ispat also signed an MoU with Maharashtra in the first week of December 2006 for capacity expansion of its integrated steel plant at Dolvi from three million tonnes per annum to five mtpa at Rs 2,000 crore. The proposal has the provision to expand capacity of the unit to 10 million tonnes at a later stage.