Angul (Odisha), Jun 17 (IANS): Odisha will be the steel hub of the country in the coming days, Union Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh said on Saturday.
Asserting that 300 million tonnes of steel capacity will be produced by 2030, one-third of this will be produced in the eastern state, he said in his address at the dedication ceremony of four core steel manufacturing facilities at the 6 million tonne per annum integrated steel plant of Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) here.
Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was also present on the occasion.
The manufacturing units which were dedicated to the nation are India's largest (4,554 cubic metre) blast burnace, India's most modern (3 MTPA) basic oxygen furnace, worlds first and largest Syngas based (2 MTPA) DRI plant and world's largest coal gasification plant for steelmaking based on indigenous coal, said a company statement.
Noting India imports about 80 per cent of coking coal worth Rs 20,000 crore, Singh said: "We remain dependent on imports but (JSSPL Chairman) Naveen (Jindal) has come out with a plan which can make us reduce this dependence."
He added that the new technology of making steel by coal gasification helps in producing the metal using domestic coal.
Noting India has now emerged as the second-largest steelmaker in the world by superseding Japan, he said that the country aims to achieve 300 million tonnes of steel capacity by 2030, against the present level of about 134 million tonnes and that higher quality steel will be produced in the country with innovation, research and development on the sector.
Inaugurating the key steel manufacturing facilities, Pradhan said: "The steel industry is going to be a major contributor in employment generation in coming days. JSPL's adoption of coal gassification as the technology for steel making is a path-breaking initiative."
Jindal said: "This is for the first time that any company in India is using coal gasification method to make steel. We are hopeful that after one year we will be able to run the Angul plant in full capacity."
The greenfield complex was initially conceived as India's first and only steel plant to operate on purely indigenous raw material. Over time, the Angul steel plant has transformed into India's most resilient steel-manufacturing destination, deploying a judicious mix of oxygen and electric steelmaking routes.
The 6 MTPA Integrated Steel Plant at Angul is the largest steel manufacturing plant in Odisha which has created 50,000 employment opportunities and anchors a socio-economic ecosystem of one lakh families.