India: JSW to start work on Odisha steel mill soon, pledges INR 1 lakh cr for the state

Sajjan Jindal led JSW Steel would start work shortly on the 13.2 million tonne mega greenfield steel facility proposed near Paradip, originally the site chosen for Posco's $12 billion steel plant in Odisha.

In a video conference with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Jindal said the JSW Group was fully committed to its projects proposed in the state. The state government has already allocated land, water and power for the proposed mega steel project. The project is being fast tracked to help commence operations at the earliest.

During the discussion, the Chief Minister stressed on maximum value addition of the resources within the state for accelerating job creation and revenue generation. Jindal expressed his satisfaction on the support of the state government in providing all the necessary support for its various industrial projects.

Jindal added that JSW has plans to invest over INR one lakh crore in Odisha in the next 10 years.

The steel maker has committed an investment of INR 55,000 crore on the integrated steel mill, 900 Mw captive power plant, 32 mn t pellet unit, a captive port and a slurry pipeline to transport iron ore concentrates from Joda to the project site proposed near Paradip.

The 12 mn t steel unit by JSW Steel is to come up on 2700 acres land. It is the same land parcel alienated for the South Korean multi-national Posco that proposed a 12 mn t mega steel plant at an investment of $12 billion. Out of 2700 acres land acquired by Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco), 1700 acres was transferred to Posco. But, since Posco offered to surrender the land, it was taken back by the government.

JSW Steel has formed a wholly owned subsidiary- JSW Utkal Steel Ltd to fast track the implementation of its 12 mn t crude steel plant and other inter-linked projects in Odisha. While the port based steel plant was initially proposed to be developed by JSW Steel, another group company JSW Infrastructure got the clearance to build the slurry pipeline.

The steel maker is collaborating with the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Sambalpur to set up a 'JSW Centre for Development Studies' in Odisha. JSW Steel will also establish a 100 bedded hospital and a school at Koida in Sundargarh district in PPP mode with an objective to develop mining areas for the benefits of the local people.