In line with its strategy to meet the market demand for tailormade steel products and to help increase per capita steel consumption in rural areas, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is in the process of setting up Steel Processing Units (SPUs) in locations across the country where it does not have any production facility. Union Minister for Chemicals & Fertilisers and Steel Shri Ram Vilas Paswan today laid the foundation stone of the Navratna company's sixth SPU at Lassipora, 45 kms from Srinagar, in Pulwama district of Jammu & Kashmir. Present on the occasion were J&K Governor Shri N.N. Vohra, SAIL Chairman Shri S.K. Roongta and Managing Director, Durgapur Steel Plant, Shri V. Shyamsundar. SAIL is investing Rs. 100 crore in setting up this SPU.
Being built with an initial capacity of 1 lakh tonnes per annum, the Pulwama SPU will produce TMT bars in 8 to 25 mm diameter and galvanised corrugated sheets from input materials sourced from SAIL's integrated steel plants. Expected to be completed in 18 months, the unit will have a TMT bar mill with 40,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) capacity and cut-to-length and corrugation line of 60,000 tpa capacity for GP coils/sheets.
Speaking on the occasion, the Steel Minister thanked the J&K government for providing land for the project on priority and urged SAIL to explore the possibility of increasing investment in the state to enhance development.
Shri N.N. Vohra, in his address, thanked the Steel Ministry and SAIL for the initiative to set up the SPU in J&K. "Such initiatives will help to bring about change," he averred.
Stating that the SPU would increase SAIL's presence vastly in J&K, Shri S.K. Roongta pointed out that the company's existing distribution centre in Leh was the highest-altitude steel outlet in the world. "Wherever SAIL goes, it makes a meaningful difference in people's lives," he added, referring to the potential of SPUs to generate a variety of economic activities.
SAIL's first SPU, coming up in Betiah in Bihar at an estimated cost of Rs. 236 crore, will have the capacity to produce 265,000 tonnes of TMT bars and pipes. Another SPU in Mahnar, Bihar, being set up in two phases at a cost of around Rs. 265 crore, will have the capacity to produce 1.5 lakh tonnes of black and galvanised tubes and 1 lakh tonnes of TMT bars, and will also have coil cutting and corrugation facilities. SAIL is also setting up three SPUs in Madhya Pradesh ÔÇô at Gwalior, Ujjain and Hoshangabad ÔÇô with investment of around Rs. 83 crore, Rs. 100 crore and Rs. 154 crore, respectively. While all three SPUs will produce TMT bars in 8 mm to 25 mm diameter, the Hoshangabad unit's product mix also includes angles, channels and beams/joists.
