The Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) will increase its installed capacity to 24.98 million tones by 2010 form the current level of 13 million tones. Initially the expansion plan of the company was to raise its capacity to 22.5 million tones by 2010 with an investment of Rs.37,000 crore. The revised estimate for the higher installed capacity along with the ongoing programme has been pegged at Rs.43,000 crore.
Reviewing the progress of the expansion programme of SAIL here today, the Minister for Steel, Chemicals and Fertilisers Shri Ram Vilas Paswan urged the top management of the company to implement the programme on time. He also asked the chairman of SAIL to come up with a revised schedule for implementing the expansion plan with-in two days. The Minister said responsibility should be fixed for any kind of delay at different stages and action may be taken. Shri Paswan has also asked the Secretary, Ministry of Steel to review the progress in the first week of each month. There will be further reviews following the deadlines for important milestones with a six monthly appraisal. Officials not meeting the deadlines will be held responsible and action will be taken. Shri Paswan asked SAIL to avoid delay in the execution of the programme which costs the exchequer substantially.
The Minister said, economic progress has thrown up a great opportunity to create a solid base for the steel sector and we will loose the opportunity unless we take timely action. He said, the Board of Directors of the Navaratna PSUs like SAIL have been given autonomy to take decisions and if there are any procedural snags it may be taken up with the CVC. The Chairman of the Steel Authority Shri S.K.Roongta made a presentation on the progress of the expansion programme and explained the difficulties faced. Secretary Ministry of Steel, Shri R.S. Pandey, Special Secretary Shri A.K.Rath and other senior officials were present during the review.
DNM /AT/CC
(Release ID :28257)