Union Minister for Chemicals & Fertilisers and Steel Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan today laid the foundation stone for the third Steel Processing Unit (SPU) of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) at Doraliya in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh. State Chief Minister Mr Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union Minister of State for Steel Mr Jitin Prasada, former Union Minister of State for Personnel, Public Redressal & Pension Mr Suresh Pachouri, members of the Vidhan Sabha, SAIL Chairman Mr. S.K. Roongta and Bhilai Steel Plant Managing Director Mr. R. Ramaraju were also present on the occasion.
The upcoming SPU will produce light and medium structurals, transmission line tower (TLT) structures and TMT bars. Production facilities will include a 70,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) light & medium structural mill, decoiling, straightening and cutting facilities for TMT coils (10,000 tpa capacity) and a service centre for TLT structures with galvanising (30,000 tpa capacity).
The decoiling, straightening and cutting line and TLT finishing/galvanising line will be installed in 13 months' time. The entire project is expected to be completed in 24 months. SAIL's Ranchi-based Centre for Engineering & Technology will be the project consultant. Billets to be used as input for the SPU will be supplied by Bhilai Steel Plant or procured externally.
SAIL is presently implementing its new initiative of setting up 10 steel processing units in 6 states where SAIL does not have a manufacturing base. These will help downstream processing of SAIL products, adding value to the ever-widening product portfolio of the company. Two SPUs are already under construction in the Bettiah and Vaishali districts of Bihar, while the foundation stone for the fourth SPU will be laid by Mr Paswan at Bandaka industrial area in Ujjain district of Madhya Pradesh tomorrow. These SPUs will contribute to the development of the respective regions by generating employment and catalysing rural-based ancillary industries.
