THE final commissioning of the modernised and expanded Iisco Steel Plant (ISP) of the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) may take some more time, but the area on which the R16,000-crore investment has been taking place is a transformed place now.
Burnpur in Asansol till recently lived in its past glory, with economic activity there dwindling down to near zero. But with the ISP modernisation on its way there is now a buzz of economic activity, which is expected to get louder in the days to come.
Of the R16,000 crore worth of investment, more than R14,000 crore has already been invested, and of the seven major packages that are required to be commissioned for a full-scale operation of the plant, five have been commissioned. The raw material handling system, the coke oven complex, the sinter plant, the rolling mills and the major common facilities comprising the oxygen plant, the power & blowing station and rain receiving have been made operational. Only the blast furnace, which will produce hot metal, and the steel making units remain to be commissioned, sources said.
But even without the blast furnace and the steel making units, ISP has started producing steel from its rolling mills with hot metal from its twin hearth furnace, one of the most primitive technologies still existing. The hot metal is carried two and a half kilometers to put into the continuous casting plant (CCP), where billets are being made for the rolling mills to produce wire rods and SAIL TMT bars. Billets are also being supplied from the Durgapur Steel Plant to enable the rolling mills run to full capacity.
?We are taking the trouble and risk of carrying the hot metal to a distance of 2.5 km since we need to keep our CCP and other facilities, already commissioned, running. If such facilities are not kept operational by the time the blast furnace and the steel making units are ready, the CCP and other units will require complete checking. This will be time consuming and would lead to further delays in the full and final commissioning of the plant,? an official said.
Already, the project implementation is running much behind the schedule and the originally R9,600-crore expansion project is costing R16,000 crore today. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid the project?s foundation stone in December 2006 after Iisco; India?s second integrated steel plant (Tisco-now Tata Steel?in Jamshedpur being the first one), was merged with Sail. This paved the way for the resurrection of one of Asia?s finest steel plants, once again set to become India?s most modern steel plant with efficiency to produce steel at the lowest cost with iron ore sourced from its own captive mines at Gua, Chiria and Monoharpur and coking coal from its captive collieries at Chasnala and Ramnagar.
The delay occurred mainly on two counts. First, there were adverse soil conditions, wherein slag and steel boulders were found at the work site. This delayed the project by over two years as trenches had to be dug during piling. Second, there was dispute over a small plot of land within the 900-acre project area, over the relocation of a village deity. This added to ISP?s woes. ?But we are implementing our project in a pace faster than usual,? the official said.
When Sail chairman CS Verma visited ISP mid-2013 to monitor the project progress, he identified all critical jobs and broke them into small activities and formed teams so that each team could timely complete its targeted work. ISP, he then said, would be important in realising Sail?s 2020 vision with a capacity to produce 2.7 million tonne of hot metal from the country?s most advanced plant with a manpower of 8,000 only.
ISP has procured the latest technology with companies like Posco E&C of South Korea setting up the blast furnace, SMS Demag of Germany putting up the basic oxygen furnace, Siemens VAI of Austria setting up the continuous caster plant, and Danieli Company of Italy setting up the wire rod and bar mills, which would give the highest productivity to this unit. ISP is the only steel plant in India which, though in small quantity, had produced Z bars and piling used for constructing bridges and tunnels. But the modern plant would produce it in a larger scale to substitute import of such steel.
Burnpur in Bardhaman was home to Asia?s premier iron and steel making facilities. It goes back to the days when James Erskine pioneered the production of iron using coal instead of charcoal. He founded the Bengal Iron Works in 1870 at Kulti, very close to Burnpur and later Sir Rajendranath Mookerjee and Sir Acquin Martin, who together founded Martin & Co. bought over the plant. They were also responsible for opening the first iron ore mine at Pansiraburu in Singhbhum, which was then in Bengal but now in Jharkhand.
The Steel Corporation of Bengal (SCOB) had set up the steel plant at Burnpur, adjacent to the iron making facilities of Kulti in 1939. The two were merged and operated under the managing agency of Martin Burn in the early 50s. In early 60s, it became a 1 million-tonne plant and its shares were quoted on the London Stock Exchange. But then gradually all its glamour and glory faded and Burnpur started living on its history with nothing to look forward.
But Sail’s modernisation plan has changed the scenario for Burnpur. There are glitzy malls and overflowing markets, signs of prosperity. There are at least two townships that have come up over six years and three multinational food chains have set up their operations in the area. Roads are being made and land prices have increased ten-fold in the last few years.
?This has been the biggest investment in the eastern region, which will also help in boosting West Bengal?s economy?, Sail chairman CS Verma had said. The state is expecting at least R300-crore additional revenue from the modernised and expanded PSU, a state finance department official said.