Steel ministry moots two more processing units

Meanwhile,the acquisition of 16 acres of land for the upcoming secondary manufacturing unit of TMT bars at Kandrori in Kangra district has been completed. The delegation,lead by Secretary (Steel),Government of India,Atul Chaturvedi,apprised the state Chief Secretary Asha Swaroop that the construction of the Rs 90-crore project will be completed in three years.

Later,addressing media persons,Chaturvedi said they were looking for land for the two proposed units in Mandi and Sirmour.

“The steel processed in Himachal will be used for meeting the local demands for construction,manufacturing sector,hydro power projects,power transmission lines,and towers in the communication sector,” he said.

There is a large scope for manufacturing steel pipes for water supply in Himachal as the state procures pipes worth Rs 120 to Rs 130 crore annually.

Since the per capita consumption of the state is only one-third of the national average of 46 kgs per annum,the proposed units at Sirmour and Mandi will also meet the needs Punjab,Haryana,Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir,he added.

The state government and the central steel ministry have formed a joint committee to facilitate and monitor the proposals of private entrepreneurs interested in setting up the independent units in steel goods manufacturing sector for Himachal. “Executive director of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) V K Aggarwal,Commissioner of Industries of the state government Manoj Kumar and Alok Verma of Himachal CII would represent the private entrepreneurs in the committee,” said Chaturvedi.

Rashtriya Ispat Nigam will assist the local businessmen in setting up a marketing network for the steel goods. Consignment sales executives will also be appointed at Dharamshala and marketing representatives in Shimla,Una,Kullu,Mandi,Sirmour,Solan and Hamirpur,informed the secretary.

He said the ministry will make available services of MECON Limited,a Government of India undertaking,for consultancy services to prospective entrepreneurs. Chairman and Managing Director(CMD) of SAIL S K Roongta and CMD of National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) Rana Som were also a part of the delegation.

Som said,“The NMDC will soon start limestone mining activity at Arki from where the steel grade limestone lumps will be supplied to steel industry and the finer limestone will be used in the Ambuja cement plant here.”