Bhubaneswar: Union Minister of Steel and Heavy Industries HD Kumaraswamy and Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi held a high-level meeting at Lok Seva Bhavan on Wednesday to expedite the long-delayed expansion of Rourkela Steel Plant.
The goal is to double its annual production capacity and address pending land acquisition issues.
During the meeting, Majhi assured the Centre of Odisha’s full cooperation and committed to ensuring rapid land acquisition. He further instructed senior officials to accelerate the resolution process to avoid any additional delays.
“We discussed the functioning of Rourkela Steel Plant, the planned expansion of RSP, and key issues related to enhancing steel and mining production in Odisha. The Chief Minister assured full support of the state government in our collective efforts to realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of achieving 300 million tonnes (MT) of steel capacity by 2030,” the Union Minister posted on X.
Sundargarh MP and Union Minister of Tribal Affairs Jual Oram, and senior officials of the Ministry of Steel and the state government among others were also present during the meeting.
Prior to the meeting, the Union Minister also visited the RSP to review current operations and assess the readiness for expansion.
THE EXPANSION PLAN
In March, state-owned Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) had announced plans to invest approximately Rs 30,000 crore to more than double the production capacity of RSP from the current 4.4 million tonnes per annum to about 9.4 MTPA by 2030.
The expanded plant, which will spread across an additional 1,200 acres, will single-handedly account for roughly 25% of SAIL’s targeted 35 MTPA total capacity by 2030, significantly increasing steel supply to key sectors such as defence, oil & gas, and automobiles.
Earlier, there were reports that the Centre would form a high-level committee to resolve issues hindering the proposed expansion plan.
The RSP, which is India’s first public-sector integrated steel plant, was established in the 1950s with German technical collaboration and an initial capacity of 1 MTPA. It commenced operations on February 3, 1959, when the first blast furnace, named Parvati, was inaugurated by then President Dr Rajendra Prasad.
