To expedite the expansion plans of steel producers within the country, steel minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Monday announced setting up of a high powered committee, having representation from ministry officials, state government officials, and representatives from both public and private steel making companies. The committee would help accelerate the process of land acquisition, raw material linkages and remove bottlenecks if any. No timeframe, however, was spelt out to set up the committee.

?I am planning to meet the Prime Minister to seek his intervention so as to see that projects worth Rs 280,000 crore fructify. Companies have already made announcements to increase the steel production to 125 million tonne by 2011-12 from about 58 million tonne currently,? Paswan said.

If the announcements were translated into physical steel making capacity within the desired time limit, it would help bridge the gap between demand and supply of the metal. The current steel consumption is growing at 13% per annum while the production grows at 7% leaving a gap of 6% per annum. The country’s steel consumption as on date stands at 59 MT as against 54 MT of production.

?The instrument is likely to resolve the problems of land acquisition, iron ore linkages, and litigation over iron ore mines. Solution to these problems would ensure translation of announcements in regard to both brown field and green field expansion of the steel companies,? executive vice-chairman and managing director Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) Naveen Jindal said. The minister in his meeting with leading steel producers including Steel Authority of India Ltd, Tata Steel, JSW Steel Ltd, JSPL, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, Essar and Ispat Ltd suggested the industry to park money with the Indian Railways to install railway tracks that would smoothen the movement of finished goods and raw material for the industry.

?The money could later be adjusted against the freight for the material that companies would move utilizing those tracks,? Paswan added. When asked how much money has the steel companies earmarked for the proposed railways tracks, industry sources said that it could be decided only after a discussion with the officials in the ministry of railways.