Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) plans to double the capacity of its Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) to around 9 million tonnes per annum at an investment of Rs 30,000 crore to boost supplies to sectors like defence, oil & gas, and automobiles, among others.

The expansion would cover an area of over 1,200 acres. RSP alone will contribute around 25 percent to SAIL’s overall 35 million tonne per annum (MTPA) production capacity target by 2030, Mr. Alok Verma, Director In-Charge, RSP, said.

The steel plant at Rourkela in Odisha was designated as the first public sector steel plant in India and was set up in the 1950s with German collaboration with an initial capacity of 1 MT. The plant came into operation on February 3, 1959, when the then President of India, Rajendra Prasad, lit up the first blast furnace, Parvati.

The total capacity stands at 20.30 MTPA of the unit, and the RSP’s contribution sticks at 4.4 MTPA. Furthermore, the official said RSP’s capacity will be enhanced by 5 MTPA to 9.4 MTPA by 2030.

Additionally, the plant also has a dedicated mill to manufacture naval-grade, armour-grade and quenched and tempered plates for various naval and defence applications.

The official added, with the expansion, we aim to garner a sizeable share of the sectors which we cater to,” adding RSP produces plates, hot rolled (HR) coils, spiral welded and electric resistance welded pipes, cold rolled non-oriented (CRNO) which find applications in areas like ship building, rail wagons, LPG cylinder, automobiles, oil and gas, motors, generators, and transformers.

He added that approximately 1,200 acres on the south eastern side of the plant will be required for taking up this mega greenfield expansion project to be implemented with an investment of around Rs 30,000 crore.

As part of the expansion, the major facilities include a raw material handling plant, coke oven stamp charge battery, sinter plant, thin slab caster-direct rolling, cold rolling mill, silicon mill, and logistics.