The Union Ministry of Railways will soon commence the process for construction of station buildings, platforms and other infrastructure for Jagdalpur-Kirandul double track project in insurgency-infested Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.
The project for doubling of railway line between Jagdalpur and Kirandul in Bastar region is expected to be completed by January 2019, official sources informed.
Notably, NMDC ltd —the country’s largest iron ore producer and exporter had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Union Ministry of Railways on December 21, 2012 and the aforesaid project would be helpful in significantly augmenting evacuation capacity of NMDC’s Bailadila Sector mines by rail from the existing 28 MTPA to 40 MTPA of iron ore.
The company had deposited an amount of `150 crore with the East Coast Railway and the expenditure incurred as on March 31, 2015 was `132 crore, sources informed.
For execution of the project, the Railways has divided the 150 km length of doubling work into three sections namely — Jagdalpur to Silakjori 45.50 km, Kirandul to Gidam 52.23 km and Silakjori to Gidam 52.73 km.
Notably, NMDC is also developing full-fledged Railway transportation infrastructure at its upcoming 3 MTPA integrated steel plant at Nagarnar in Bastar district.
It has commenced the process of constructing a Railway Station, Traction sub-station and other necessary infrastructure at the private railway siding coming up at the site of 3 MTPA integrated steel plant at Nagarnar in Bastar district, official sources informed.
The company is also setting up a massive ‘Steel loading Platform’ at the site of upcoming 3.0 MTPA Integrated Steel Plant, officials informed.
Notably, the Union Steel and Mines Ministry has plans of doubling installed capacity of NMDC ltd’s upcoming 3 MTPA integrated steel plant coming up at Nagarnar in Bastar region in due course once the plant is commissioned.
The company is expecting commercial production of its 3 MTPA capacity steel plant in Chhattisgarh to commence by the middle of 2017. The plant is expected to be ready by December 2016 and trial of same will start by December 2016 itself, officials stated.
In order to increase the domestic capacity of steel production, a concept of Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) has been introduced, officials stated. Two MoUs have already been signed by the states of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand for setting up Greenfield steel plants with initial capacity of 3 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) each to be later enhanced to 6 MTPA. More than `70,000 crore will be invested for setting up of these steel plants.
NMDC has also planned to generate about 70 MW of captive power using gases from steel making processes in the upcoming 3 MTPA Nagarnar steel plant. The power would be generated from gases released from blast furnace, coke oven and ‘lD gases’.
The total power requirement of the steel plant would be around 420 MW in which the mines, pellet plant and the slurry pumping system would require around 120 MW of power, officials stated.
The remaining 350 MW power would be conventional in nature which would be fulfilled by the captive power plant and the Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company ltd (CSPDCl).
NMDC is also planning to construct a ‘rapid iron ore loading system’ with a capacity of 14 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) at its Kirandul complex in Bastar region, officials informed.