Steel Authority of India Limited’s (SAIL) Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) capacity will soon be expanded to 9 million mt per year from 4.5 million mt per year at present, secretary, ministry of steel, Sandeep Pondrik said in a statement on Friday, August 30.
This was stated in a meeting between Pondrik and chief minister of Odisha, Mohan Charan Majhi in course of review of all government companies operating in the state.
Earlier last year, the board of SAIL had reportedly deferred the expansion of the Rourkela steel mill which had been planned at an estimated capital investment of $3.6 billion.
It is learnt that the central government had deferred the expansion project owing to failure to resolve encroachments in surplus land vested with RSP which would be required for the brownfield expansion.
An estimated 2,000 acres of additional land will be required for the expansion but the land available is not under control of RSP, sources said.