SAIL's new unit at Rourkela on stream

C S VermaFor its expansion program valued Rs. 70, 000-crore, the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) commissioned a unit on Monday which has been brought from the Italy-based Danieli to its Rourkela Steel Plant.

The Chairman of SAIL Mr. C. S. Verma did the inauguration of the second ladle furnace of steel melting shop-II at the Rourkela Steel Plant. This ladle furnace is a portion of the Rs. 197.66-crore scheme which simultaneously blows in basic oxygen furnace (BOF) convertors of the steel melting shop.

The sum total investment is round about Rs. 11, 812 crore. The estimated capacity of the steel plants as augmented is of Rs. 70,000-crore. SAIL, which is India's largest steel manufacturer, has the aim of installing a yearly manufacturing capacity of about 23 million tonnes as compared to the current 14 million tonnes.

About two million tonnes of steel is manufactured by the Rourkela plant and the target this time to produce twice the capacity in the coming two years.

SAIL has stated that the new furnace will have an increased capacity of the Rourkela unit, up from 1.68 million tonnes to 1.85 million tonnes of liquid steel annually, thus rising the manufacturing of slabs by 0.17 million tonnes each year.