Jamuria, Sept. 1: Steel and ferro alloy manufacturer Shyam Sel Ltd requires more coal than has been allotted to it by the Bengal government for its steel plant at Jamuria in Burdwan.
The company will be able to meet only 10 per cent of its total requirement from the Trans Damodar underground coal block allocated last year.
“Coal is important for the project. Although we are waiting for the complete feasibility report on mining coal from the Trans Damodar block, initial geological survey shows it will be able to provide no more than 10 per cent of our total requirement,” said B. Bhusan Agarwal, vice-chairman and managing director of the Shyam group of industries.
The group is setting up a 1.1-million-tonne-per-annum integrated steel plant at Jamuria along with a 1,000-megawatt captive power plant. The Rs 9,900-crore project is slated to become operational in phases with the first phase involving an investment of Rs 1,500 crore.
“We have a coal requirement of 3mt per annum in the first phase. We are hoping to complete the first phase by 2013. But all that depends on the allotment of coal block to us by the state government,” Agarwal said.
The group is procuring coal from Eastern Coalfields Ltd and Coal India Ltd and is operating at a 50 per cent deficient coal supply.
A Shyam Sel official said the block, with limited reserves, could be mined for less than five years. The project ran into rough weather when Shyam Sel filed a writ petition with Calcutta High Court calling into question the “lack of transparency” on the manner in which coal blocks were allocated to competitors JSW Bengal Steel and Jai Balaji.
The government replied that the allocation was done on a first come, first served basis and provided the Trans Damodar block to Shyam Sel, promising more blocks once the Centre allotted new ones. However, no fresh allocation was made since 2007 because of political differences between the erstwhile Left Front government in Bengal and the Centre.
“Government officials have paid a visit to note our progress. We are optimistic on the allocation of the block based on what we have achieved till now,” Agarwal said.
