Essar Steel plans to set up a special economic zone (SEZ) at Hazira in Gujarat. It will entail an investment of Rs.13,000 crore and has estimated an additional investment of Rs.400 crore for setting up the SEZ's infrastructure.

The proposed SEZ will be spread over 1,100 ha of land adjacent to Essar's existing plant site.

The company plans to set up a new integrated steel plant and a power project at the proposed SEZ. likely to have a capacity of over 6 million tpa. The captive power project will use natural gas and is likely to be an independent power project with a capacity of between 600 MW and 1,000 MW, depending on the size of the steel plant.

Essar has approached the ministry of commerce for an in-principle approval of the project and sought support from the Gujarat government for the proposed SEZ. The company's board is expected to take up the matter for consideration by January 2006.

The company plans to have a product-specific zone at the initial stage, to be converted into a multi-product zone later.

The proposed facility will add capacity to Essar's steel plant at Hazira and will help the company cater to the increasing demand for steel products worldwide. The Hazira project has a capacity of 3 million tpa and the company has plans to increase it to 4.6 million tpa and 5.5 million tpa in stages by end of 2006.

The proposed SEZ is expected to consume nearly the entire pellet production of Essar's 4 million tpa pelletisation plant located at Visakhapatnam.

Also See:

Kribhco invites bids for Hazira project (24-Dec-05)