South Korean steel major Posco, which is aggressively looking at more business opportunities in India even as its Rs 54,000 crore 12 million tonne steel project in Orissa is mired in land acquisition problems, has Kulti in West Bengal on its radar too.
Posco spokesperson S Mohanty told Fe that while the company’s talks with SAIL for a JV at Bokaro steel plant has progressed, plans for Kulti are at a nascent stage.
He said Posco is willing to set up a number of plants in India if there are enough opportunities. ?We are a well established business house and if there is opportunity we will definitely set up a number of plants in India,” Mohanty said.
He said a Posco team visited Kulti last month, but refused to share details.
SAIL officials said Posco has proposed forming a JV with SAIL to set up a 1.5 million tonne steel plant at Kulti. It has started a feasibility study following which they will hold further talks with SAIL.
Kulti, a part of IISCO, makes non-ferrous castings, bronze sleeper pads with a capacity of less than half a million tonne. Kulti, spread over 812 acres, runs its plant on 218 acres. Therefore, it has enough spare land to offer to Posco.
SAIL?s Bokaro steel unit, which is spread over 31,000 acres, runs its 3.7 mt steel plant on 14,000 acres and has spare land on the west, north and south of its unit to offer to Posco. The east side of Bokaro steel plant has been developed as a township.
Bokaro Steel Plant spokesperson Sanjay Tewari said a Posco team last visited Bokaro on March 16 following which they held meetings with the SAIL authorities in Delhi for setting up a steel plant.
According to a SAIL official, since SAIL units hold huge land and a lot of it are lying unutilised, the PSU is trying to make use of the land. Because of non-utilization, some land is being encroached and getting locked in legal disputes, the official said.
Posco and SAIL have a memorandum of understanding ?to establish a strategic alliance for aligning and cooperating in a wide range of strategic business and commercial interest areas,? through which both the companies are working out plans for mutual benefits.
If Posco sets up plants at Bokaro and Kulti it will get the advantage of sourcing iron ore from Steel Authority of India?s Kiriburu, Meghahatuburu, Gua and Chiria mines in Jharkhand, which will produce 37.54 mt of iron ore per annum post expansion.