Haldia (Bengal), Nov. 1: Tata Power would take over the power generation at Hooghly Met Coke and Power Company Ltd, a joint venture of Tata Steel and West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation at Haldia in Bengal.
Deputy managing director of Tata Steel and chairman of Hooghly Met Coke and Power Company Ltd Tridibesh Mukherjee told The Telegraph that a decision for handing over the power plant to Tata Power was taken at the company’s board of directors meet in Mumbai on October 30.
“The board decided that the power plant would be commissioned between July and December 2007 and handed over to Tata Power for operation. The power-generating capacity of the plant would be increased from 90 MW to 120 MW,” he said.
Of the total project cost estimated around Rs 1,750 crore, Rs 500 crore would be spent on the power plant and the rest would be invested for the coke plant. It would produce 1.6 million tonne per annum of high quality low ash metallurgical coke for the steel-manufacturing unit of Tata Steel in Jamshedpur.
On commissioning of its full capacity, the Hooghly Met Coke would become the largest coke plant in India and one of the largest in the world. Tata Steel’s greenfield project — the coke plant — is the highest investment made by any private company in Haldia.
The commerce and industries minister of Bengal, Nirupam Sen, said his government would continue to provide all possible assistance to the investors interested in establishing industries in his state.
Managing director, Hooghly Met Coke and Power Ltd Company, B.K. Singh said the greenfield project would come up on 200 acres of land acquired from Calcutta Port Trust.
Singh said as a part of corporate social responsibility, 40 youths — local residents — have begun their three-month-long training on operations of coke oven at the Shavak Nanavati Technical Institute in Jamshedpur.
After six months’ on-job training at Haldia, they would be absorbed on the permanent roll of the company to run coke ovens at Haldia.