Tata Steel on Monday performed the groundbreaking ceremony for its 3.05 million tonne per annum (mtpa) hot metal capacity ‘I’ blast furnace here.
Tata Steel managing director B Muthuraman, who performed the ceremony, said: “This is a project about productivity and the one aimed at making Jamshedpur the best steel producing site.”
When completed, the new furnace will contribute 29% (3.05 mtpa) of the steel major’s 10.55 mtpa hot metal output here.
The blast furnace with green cover on its three sides will be environment-friendly. It will be fuel-efficient as well compared with the existing ones.
The new furnace is part of the company’s 10 mtpa brownfield expansion, which is estimated to cost around Rs 14,000 crore. Tata Steel commissioned its ‘H’ blast furnace here in May 2008.
A consortium comprising PW Italia, L&T and PW India has designed, supplied, and erected the new furnace, which is expected to be commissioned by November 2010.
Speaking on the occasion, Tata Workers Union president Raghunath Pandey said, “With the groundbreaking ceremony, Tata Steel has shown that it will continue to take up new challenges and will look forward and grow despite adverse external conditions”.