With West Bengal?s efforts to woo investors receiving a severe jolt after the pull-out of Tata?s Rs 3,500-crore Nano project and DLF?s Rs 5,000-crore Dankuni Satellite township project, the state?s chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is trying his best to prove all is not lost for Brand Bengal.
Laying the foundation stone of Shyam Steel?s Rs 3,425-crore integrated steel plant, which has got only 74 acre of the required 1,200 acre so far, and financial closure still remaining a distant affair, Bhattacharjee is trying to give a strong signal that the state will move ahead with its agenda of industrialisation.
?Would you forgive us if we move away from our process of industrialisation under pressure from the opposition,? Bhattacharjee said to a gathering at the project site. ?I think we are self sufficient in our requirement of food grains; so why shouldn?t we strive for industry,? Bhattacharjee said.
The chief minister is betting on the steel projects, which add up to Rs 1 lakh crore new investment into the state. Although the Sajjan Jindal-promoted 10 million tonne JSW Bengal steel project is said to be under review in the wake of the global financial meltdown, the good news is the promoters aren?t talking of shelving it.
JSW Bengal has announced plans of investing Rs 35,000 crore for an integrated steel plant in Salboni, whose foundation stone has been laid by the chief minister. But the construction work at the site has slowed down, given the dip in global demand for steel.
West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) managing director Subrata Gupta said that the state is developing three industrial parks in Purulia with land requirement of 5,000 acre, in each of which 15% will be aside for ancillary units.
Shyam Steel, which has a 0.5 million tonne integrated steel plant in Durgapur and three specialty rolling mills in Howrah, will be the anchor investor in one of the steel parks in Purulia, putting up a 1.1 million tonne plant at an estimated investment of Rs 3,425 crore.
Bhattacharjee said that the government will expedite the process of land acquisition for the Purulia steel park, which would require around 1,265 acre. The expert committee of WBIDC has approved the feasibility study for Shyam Steel and it has got clearance from the ministry of environment and forests.