Tata Steel’s Ferro-chrome plant in Gopalpur inaugurated

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday inaugurated the 55,000 ton per annum (TPA) Ferro-chrome plant set up by Tata Steel in the company’s Gopalpur Industrial Park in Ganjam district of Odisha.

It is yet another testimony to Tata Steel’s commitment to the development of the state of Odisha.

Higher Education minister Pradeep Panigrahi, Women and Child Development minister Usha Devi, Tata Steel managing director T V Narendran, Gopalpur project MD Arun Misra, and other dignitaries  graced the occasion.

The Ferro-chrome plant at Gopalpur is a unique environment-friendly plant with state-of-the-art pollution control equipment and technology such as the ETP (Effluent Treatment Plant) & STP (Sewage Treatment Plant).

It has 100% water harvesting facility that caters to most of the  water needs  of the plant. It has an indigenously built semi-closed hybrid furnace, which is first of its kind in India and components procured from all over the world to maintain high standards of quality and safety. Also, it is the first plant in India to use the briquetting method of Chrome ore fines agglomeration.

The plant will set a high benchmark in technology and other performance parameters in the country excelling in operations and ensuring a total commitment to enhancing stakeholder value.

Speaking on the occasion, Narendran said the plant built at a cost of Rs 542 crore, is the first green-field Ferro-chrome plant of Tata Steel in India. It is a moment of pride for Tata Steel to start the ferrochrome plant in the area and in the coming days, the Gopalpur Industrial Park should see lot more investors coming forward, adding to the industrial progress of the region.

Misra said, ‘We are happy with the commissioning of the ferrochrome plant at Gopalpur. We expect new investment in Tata Steel Special Economic Zone (SEZ) over next few months.”

Tata Steel is also developing an Industrial Park at Gopalpur. Spread over 2970 acres of land, the Industrial Park is a multi-product Special Economic Zone (SEZ). Besides the new unit at Gopalpur, Tata Steel has two other Ferro-chrome plants in Odisha- a 65,000 TPA plant at Bamnipal in Keonjhar district and the other at Athagarh in Cuttack district of 55,000 TPA capacity under the management of its subsidiary T S Alloys.