Groundbreaking ceremony for ArcelorMittal/Nippon Steel plant on March 23, says Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has announced during the inaugural session of the Collectors’ Conference that groundbreaking for the construction of ArcelorMittal / Nippon Steel India Ltd.’s (AM/NS) Integrated Steel Plant (ISP) at Rajayyapeta in Anakapalli district will be done on March 23.

AM/NS plans to establish a state-of-the-art 17.80 MTPA ISP in two phases and the proposal has been approved in November 2024. The first phase will have a production capacity of 8.20 MTPA with a port-integrated facility.

Meanwhile, AM/NS invited Expressions of Interest (EoI) on Wednesday from qualified and experienced suppliers for the establishment of a dedicated 1-million-tonne steel fabrication unit in proximity to the ISP site.

The company stated in the notification inviting EoI that the execution timeline for the steel fabrication unit would be up to four years. It asked the interested suppliers to submit a comprehensive company profile, detailing current business operations, annual turnover, current manufacturing capacity and monthly volume commitment through the new unit.

The Government of Andhra Pradesh has allocated approximately 2,200 acres of land for the project. The company intends to manufacture six types of finished saleable products, including hot-and-cold rolled coils, galvanised auto coils and hot rolled coils from thin slab caster.

AM/NS is getting the 244-km-long iron ore slurry pipeline, that originates at the NMDC’s Bailadila mines in Chhattisgarh and currently catering to its pellet plant, diverted near Peddapeta village. A cadastral survey is in progress for right of way for the balance 54 km up to the ISP site.

Instead of using electric / con-arc furnace technologies, AM/NS has chosen the basic oxygen furnace route due to its higher productivity and compatibility with large-volume integrated steel-making.

Accordingly, all major process units have been designed using the latest engineering standards to ensure optimal performance and environmental compliance.