OREANDA-NEWS. August 15, 2011. The Chairman of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), Mr. C.S. Verma, visited IISCO Steel Plant (ISP) at Burnpur in West Bengal on 12th August to review progress of its ongoing modernisation & expansion programme being implemented at a cost of about Rs. 16,408 crore. While most of the projects under ISP's modernisation & expansion programme are in an advanced stage of completion, some are close to commissioning stage.

SAIL Chairman Mr. C.S. Verma (centre) with SAIL Director (Personnel & Technical) Mr. B.B. Singh (extreme left) reviewing the progress of the Coke & Sinter Despatch Yard.

Braving a heavy downpour, Mr. Verma visited the modernisation project sites during his visit along with senior executives of the plant. While observing that the gap between scheduled and actual progress of some projects that were delayed due to unforeseen circumstances has been minimised faster than expected, he urged the project officials to make all-out efforts to expedite the projects at the earliest. "We will brook no delay any further," he said, while stressing upon the need to complete the projects on time. "The entire country is looking forward to timely commissioning of ISP modernisation,"

Wire Rod Mill at ISP in an advanced stage of completion.

Mr. Verma pointed out to the project managers at a meeting here. Among project sites he visited are the new Coke Oven Battery (COB) and its interconnecting zone, Raw Material Handling System, Railway Yard, Water Treatment Plant, Power & Blowing Station, Coke & Sinter Despatch Yard, Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) and Wire & Rod Mill.

Construction of the state-of-the-art integrated steel plant with capacity to produce 2.5 million tonnes (MT) of crude steel per annum in a limited area of 953 acres of land - making it one of its kind in the world - has been a challenge. Major facilities coming up in the ambit of ISP's modernisation & expansion programme include a seven-metre-tall COB along with environment-friendly coke dry quenching system, two 204 sq. m. Sinter machines; a new Blast Furnace of 4060m3 volume with top pressure recovery turbine and coal dust injection system; three 150-tonne BOF converters, two 6-strand billet casters and one 4-strand bloom-cum-beam blank caster, Universal Heavy Section Mill of 0.6 MT per annum (mtpa) capacity, 0.5 mtpa Wire Rod Mill and 0.75 mtpa Bar Mill with necessary auxiliary and service facilities.

At present, four major projects - Wire Rod Mill, Raw Material Handling System designed to handle 7.56 MT of raw material, 3.88 mtpa Sinter Plant and 2x750 tpd Oxygen Plant - are almost ready for commissioning. The Wire Rod Mill will produce cold headed quality for fasteners, critical wire rope applications and special quality electrodes. For remaining projects almost all piling work and structural fabrication has been completed. Supply of equipments for most projects has also been completed and their erection is in an advanced stage of progress.

ISP came into being after erstwhile Indian Iron & Steel Co. (IISCO) was amalgamated with SAIL on 16th February, 2006. IISCO's origin can be traced back to 1870, though it was incorporated as an industrial enterprise only in 1913. Under the stewardship of Sir Biren Mukherjee, IISCO came to be ranked as one of the best managed steel plants in the 1960s. During this period IISCO was considered a blue-chip company and its shares were traded at the London Stock Exchange. However, the Government of India nationalised IISCO following its decline in later years and transferred all its shares held by the Centre to SAIL in 1972. With this, IISCO became a wholly owned subsidiary of SAIL in 1978-79.