India’s Ministry of Steel has asked domestic steel producers to seek convergence with the government’s latest “mission” to ensure piped potable water to every rural household by 2024 and leverage the demand for steel products to emanate from the project, Indian steel minister Dhramendra Pradhan said on Friday, July 19.
The minister said that the Ministry of Steel had already written a letter to its counterparts in the Water Resource Ministry seeking greater collaboration between the two in achieving the objectives of the ‘mission’ and at the same time tap into the demand for steel products to be generated through construction of water transportation networks across rural India.
Steel usage in the project to supply piped water to every rural household is ideal in terms of corrosion resistance, life span, replacement costs, the minister said.
The Indian government has provided for an estimated $4.15 billion in the national budget 2019-20 for the Water Resource Ministry to part fund the potable water supply project for each rural household spread across 256 rural districts in the country.
Such investments in creating a water distribution network across the country will generate additional demand for various steel products and domestic steel companies need to integrate their operations with the government project to tap into this potential demand, the minister added.