ArcelorMittal's plan of setting up steel plants in India finally seems to be gathering some momentum with the company setting up a 15 member team consisting of technicians from the its operations from across the globe, who would chart out a strategy for India. Company officials also indicated that given the current scenario the plant in Orissa is set to come up ahead of the plant in Jharkhand.

The company has plans of setting up two, 12 million tonne(mt) steel plants, one in each state with a cumulative investment of Rs 80,000 crore. “Our Group Management Board has approved the constitution of a 15-member technical team for our steel projects in Orissa and Jharkhand under the supervision of our chief technical officer, Pierre Gugliermina,” ArcelorMittal Brazil CEO Jose Armando Campos said. Engineering company M N Dastur & Co will prepare the detailed project report for these plants.

The study conducted by Gugliermina would complement the Dastur & Co’s study which is likely to be submitted by June his year. ArcelorMittal has said that it would try and replicate the same model on which the steel plants in Brazil are based for India.

“Our Brazilian operations are a classic example of integrating plant management with corporate-social responsibility. Our company is the most respected in Brazil and we hope to replicate this model in India as well,” Campos said. The areas where the Brazilian model would be replicated include waste management, water treatment, gas recuperation and soil bio-fuel where charcoal from eucalyptus trees replace coke.

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