Bhubaneswar, May 4: The steel rush in Orissa continues. Today, eight small companies signed memoranda of understanding (MoU) with the Orissa government to set up steel plants in the state with a combined capacity of 2.2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) and at an investment of Rs 2,008.7 crore.

Patnaik Steels and Alloys Limited, Rathi Udyog Limited, Viraj Steels and Energy, Deepak Steels and Power, Konark Ispat, Beekey Steel and Power, BRG Iron & Steel and Jain Sponge Pvt Ltd signed on the dotted lines at a function this evening at the state secretariat.

These steel units have capacities in the range of 0.25-0.30 mtpa and would be located in Sambalpur, Keonjhar, Jharsuguda and Dhenkanal.

These plants will start commercial production in another five years.

Even though some big names of the domestic and international steel industry have queued up in Orissa to set up steel projects, real investment in the state have been made only by the smaller players. So far MoUs for 27 mtpa of steel production in the first phase have been signed and a total investment of Rs 50,000 crore is expected in the state towards setting up these projects.

The actual investment that has come in so far is, however, just a trickle and are struggling to reach even the Rs 2,000 crore-mark. Some of the small projects have started making investments mainly in acquiring land while a few have started operations on a small scale.

The big-ticket players planning to invest in Orissa include Posco, which plans to set up a 12-MTPA integrated steel plant, Vedanta, which has signed an MoU to set up a 5-MTPA plant and Tata Steel, which plans a 6-MTPA steel plant.

Last month, the Naveen Patnaik government had signed two MoUs worth Rs 14,200 crore with Mumbai-based Essar Group and the Chennai-based Murugappa group who would set up steel plants in Paradip and Duburi. While Hy-Grade Pellets Limited (HGPL) of Essar Group will set up 4-mtpa integrated steel plant at Paradip, Murugappa group-owned Tube Investments of India (TII) will build a 1.2-MTPA unit at Kalinga Nagar in Duburi in Jajpur district.