Posted on 27 Feb 2008
China's Sinosteel to begin work on India plant in April
Sinosteel, the $16-billion, state-owned Chinese steel major,
will start work on its first manufacturing facility in India in April.
The new unit is to come up in the port town of Haldia
in West Bengal. Sinosteel, which plans to
invest of Rs 200 crore in the unit, will manufacture cold forged steel rolls
used in cold rolling mills.
“Construction work on our plant in West
Bengal will start from April. We have got possession of 30 acres,
on which the plant will come up at Haldia. We have already placed orders for
the equipment which will be shipped from China,”
Sinosteel India
managing director Hangseng Wang said. He is in Kolkata to attend a steel
seminar, which is focusing on bringing closer steel and allied sectors in China and India.
The Haldia unit will have a capacity of 5,000 tonne and will
meet one-third of the requirement of the Indian steel industry. The investment
in West Bengal is part of a $2-billion package being readied by Sinosteel for India. Last
year, Sinosteel had signed an MoU with the Jharkhand government for a 2 million
tonne (mt) integrated steel plant.
“All necessary approvals from the ministries of external
affairs, finance and steel have come through. We would like to start work as
soon as we get the land,” Mr Wang said. Sinosteel, which is into mining, design
and manufacture of steel plant equipment, has been involved in construction of
almost all major plants in China.
The Jharkhand project is likely to come up in Silli-Chandil
area near Ranchi.
Sinosteel is eyeing about 300 million tonne of iron ore reserves in the area,
for which it will apply for a mining lease.
“However, we will not wait for a mining lease to start our
operations. Instead, we will stick to our schedule. If necessary, we could
source iron ore from private mines in and around the area,” Mr Wang added.
China,
which produced 489 mt of steel in 2007, is the largest steel producer in the
world. “We can do a lot for the fast-growing Indian steel industry,” Mr Wang
said.
