Essar Steel has tied up with Stemcor of UK to set up a steel plate mill at Hazira in Gujarat. A new joint venture -- Hazira Plate Mill -- will be formed to implement the Rs.1,969 crore project. While the Essar Group would hold 76 per cent stake in the JV, Stemcor would be a minority partner with 24 per cent.

The plate mill with a capacity of 1.5 million tpa will receive technology from VAI Celcim of France. The mill will manufacture wide plates of width 5m and would be the first such in India. According to reports, 5m plates are produced only by six international companies. These plates find application in wide-diameter pipelines, ship building, boiler making and general construction.

The project has received financial closure with SBI Capital Markets and IDBI Capital Market Services arranging the entire debt component of Rs.1,150 crore. 

The project is scheduled for commissioning by December 2007.

For more stories on Essar and Stemcor, click here.

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