TATA’s Gopalpur Industrial Park gets green nod

BERHAMPUR: The Ministry of Environment and Forests has accorded the much-awaited environment clearance to a group of mid-scale projects of Tata Steel at its upcoming industrial park at Gopalpur in south Odisha. The projects include a 55,000-tonne per annum (TPA) high carbon ferrochrome plant, a 400,000-TPA rebar mill and a desalination plant to meet the water requirement of the industrial park.  “While the preliminary work for these projects has already started, the actual work will pick up momentum from the next month. The plants are expected to be completed by the end of next year,” said A K Ojha, general manager, Gopalpur project. As the key investor of the industrial park, Tata Steel would invest about Rs 800 crore on these projects, which would initially create employment for 1,000 people. Tata Steel had acquired about 2,800 acres of land at Gopalpur in mid-1990s for setting up of a mega steel plant. But the company later shelved the project and decided to set up an industrial park there. This would be the fourth ferroalloys plant of Tata Steel in Odisha. The company is currently operating three ferroalloys plants at Joda, Bamanipal and Athgarh (through its subsidiary Rawmet) with capacities of 50,000 tonnes per annum each.

Source: Business Standard