JSW Utkal Gets Environmental Nod For Captive Jetty At Jatadhar Muhan In Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur

Bhubaneswar: JSW Utkal Steel Ltd (JUSL) has received environmental clearance (EC) from the Union Ministry of Environment & Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) for the captive Jetty with 52 MTPA handling capacity in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district

The total cost of the all-weather, multi-cargo, greenfield captive jetty is Rs 2104 crore.

A wholly-owned subsidiary of JSW Steel Ltd, the company had earlier got the go-ahead for setting up a greenfield integrated steel plant (ISP) of 13.2 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) crude steel in the district with an investment of Rs 65,000 crore.

The Ministry accorded the EC after the public hearing for the proposal was successfully completed by Odisha State Pollution Control Board in December 2019, as per the EIA notification 2006.

The captive jetty, located adjacent to the steel plant on the bank of Jatadhari River near Jatadhari Muhan, will cater to the inbound and outbound cargo requirements of the ISP helping it reduce the infrastructure cost for the production of steel, the company in a statement said on Tuesday.

The mega project is expected to boost revenue for the state and Centre in the form of various taxes and duties and will generate employment opportunities for 72,000 persons (direct-15,000 and indirect-57,000), it added.

“JSW is known for its sustainability focus and we have comprehensive plans to take up livelihood improvement at the project site and vicinity through women empowerment, improvement in health, education sector, and overall socio-economic development of the local community,” COO, JSW Steel Ltd, Ranjan Nayak said.

The 13.2 MTPA crude steel ISP also comprises a captive power plant (CPP) of 900 MW capacity, and a cement grinding and mixing unit of 10.0 MTPA. Iron ore for the ISP will be sourced through a slurry pipeline from a 30.0 MTPA Iron Ore Grinding and Desliming Plant proposed in Keonjhar district.

Phase-wise work on the project will start once the land is handed over to the company by the state government.

This is one of the largest steel-making projects in the country to be cleared by the MoEF in the recent past and the company has been asked to develop a green belt over an area of 372 hectares and complete the plantation programme in three years.

The JUSL has also been asked to give due publicity to the environmental clearance granted by the Ministry along with the environmental conditions and safeguards at the company cost within seven days. It has to be uploaded on the company website permanently. The company will submit copies of the EC to the heads of local bodies, panchayats and municipal bodies in addition to the relevant offices of the government for its display for 30 days from the date of receipt. Any appeal against the EC by the objectors has to be filed in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) within 30 days of the notification as prescribed under Section 16 of the NGT Act, 2010.

Notably, the High-Level Clearance Authority chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik gave its approval to the 10 mega project proposals of JSW in June 2017 and the project capacity was later revised to 13.2 MTPA. The company has earmarked a budget of around Rs 200 crore for social interventions