AM/NS India and the Odisha government signed a memorandum of understanding for setting up a 12 million tonne integrated steel plant in Kendrapara district of Odisha. The MoU was signed by Odisha’s Principal Secretary (Industries) Mr Hemant Sharma and AM/NS India Chief Executive Officer Mr Dilip Oommen in the presence of Mr Patnaik and ArcelorMittal Executive Chairman Mr LN Mittal. Odisha Chief Minister Mr Naveen Patnaik tweeted “Giving major boost to #InvestInOdisha, #Odisha Govt has signed MoU with @AMNSIndia for a 12 million ton integrated steel plant in Kendrapara district with an investment of IR 50,000 Cr.”
It is understood that the proposal would have several pre-conditions, including making provisions for land and iron ore mines. The land identified for AM/NS India is situated at Kendrapara district, earlier earmarked for a similar sized steel plant proposed by South Korean Posco in 2005. It never saw the light of the day, mostly because of local protests over land acquisition. After the project was scrapped, the land is now being carved out between two prospective investors, JSW Steel and AMNS India.
AM/NS India’s investments in Odisha include the 6 million tonne per annum pelletization plant in Paradeep, which will be expanded to 12 million tonne per annum and the beneficiation complex in Keonjhar and slurry pipeline that are already operational.
In 2006, ArcelorMittal had signed MoU for a 12 million tonne plant in Odisha. However, it did not materialise and the company pulled out in 2013. ArcelorMittal had also signed MoU in Jharkhand for a 12 million tonne, but that didn’t take off either, neither did a 6 million tonne plant in Karnataka, for which the steel major had signed MoU in 2010.
AM/NS India is a joint venture between ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel, two of the world’s leading steel manufacturing organisations. AM/NS India is a leading integrated flat carbon steel producer in India, with an achievable crude steel capacity of around 9 million tonnes per annum.
Source: STEELGURU
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