Indian state-run steel producer Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) has started a ‘land bank study’ to assess the availability of land at its existing steel mills and to explore options of new land acquisition if necessary as a precursor to its plans to expand its steelmaking capacity to 50 million mt per year, company chairperson Soma Mondal informed shareholders on Friday, September 10.
“In line with the government’s National Steel Policy 2017, SAIL has formulated its Vision 2030, whereby it is envisaged to enhance the crude steel capacity to 50 million mt,” she said.
The last phase of expansion undertaken by SAIL entailed increasing capacity from 12.8 million mt to 21.4 million mt. However, the expansion conceived in 2006-07 was delayed due to the global financial crisis in 2008, she said.
The modernization and expansion of SAIL’s mills at Rourkela, Burnpur, Durgapur, Bokaro and Bhilai have been completed now, Mondal said.