New era

Calcutta, Dec. 9: Shyam Sel & Power Ltd may be the first of the new steel projects to start in Bengal.The company today said it now had the land to commission the first phase of its project at Jamuria in Burdwan district.

“We are on track to commission the 250,000-tonne steel plant and the 250-mega-watt power plant by the end of 2009,” B. Bhushan Agarwal, vice-chairman and managing director of Shyam Sel, said. The proposed capacity of the project is 1.1 million tonnes.

Shyam Sel has received the crucial environmental clearance from the Centre. It has placed orders for more than 80 per cent of machinery.

Investment in the project is Rs 9,900 crore, with the first phase requiring Rs 2,000 crore, comprising Rs 1,300-crore debt and Rs 700-crore equity.

It is one of the 10 companies to announce steel plants in Bengal, signing a pact with the state in February.

“We are ahead of the timeline committed in the MoA (memorandum of agreement),” Agarwal said.

The company has acquired 400 acres on its own. It said it had paid Rs 4-5 lakh per acre for the arid land. “Industry has faced problems in acquiring land even if it is single crop. Ours is not so,” a company executive said.

Bengal is expected to hand over another 180 acres. To execute the project, Shyam Sel will require 1,500 acres.

However, there is a cause for concern. The company is yet to receive coal blocks which will fire the power plant to run the electric arc furnace. Shyam Sel executives had met chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to discuss the project on November 14. It is hoping to get allocation from the Jagannathpur coal block.