India-based Essar Group's steelmaking subsidiary Essar Steel has announced that on December 1 it commissioned a new 1.73 million mt per year blast furnace, a new 1.7 million mt per year mega DRI module (its sixth module) and the first phase of its steel melt shop, all at Hazira in the state of Gujarat, India.
These facilities (Plant B) have been set up at Hazira adjacent to the company's existing Plant A. Essar Steel said it aims to set up an integrated steel plant at Hazira with an annual capacity of 10 million mt per year by Q1 2011. The total investment in the Hazira Steel Complex amounts to INR 300 billion ($6.65 billion).
Infrastructure at Hazira comprises a 30 million mt per year capacity all-weather port and captive power plants to support the operations.
"We remain committed to the growth of steel capacity in India. It is a moment of great pride for us to commission these iron-making units at this plant. Safety and environment aspects have been paramount in design and construction of the asset base," Essar Steel Business Group's CEO Mr. Malay Mukherjee commented.