India: JSW closer to securing right of way for 324km slurry pipeline in Odisha

JSW Utkal Steel Limited has applied for right of way for 8.3 km along the Taladanda canal embankment near Paradip which should speed up the completion of its 30mtpa slurry pipeline.

The wholly-owned subsidiary of JSW Steel is laying a pipeline from its mines in Nuagaon in Keonjhar to the Jatadhari area near Paradip. Out of a total 324 km pipeline it has already secured the right of way for 317 km. It hit a roadblock near the Siju-Bagadia village in Paradip which did not have a road for the pipeline to travel along. The company now plans to carry it along the embankment of the canal.

With four iron ore mines, including the of massive 767.284 hectares Nuagaon block JSW plans to move much of its ore through this pipeline to Paradip, where it has a berth and which is also the site of its future 13.2 mtpa steel plant. (JSW now owns the 5mtpa Bhushan Power and Steel Limited’s which it says will be expanded to 15 mtpa.) It is already a partner in Brahmani River Pellets Ltd, a joint venture with Thriveni Earth Movers.

The MDO on its part also has plans for a 30 mnt pa pipeline supported by beneficiation and pelletisation plants. It bid but lost out to ArcelorMittal which finally acquired the 253 km slurry pipeline from Dabuna in Keonjhar to Paradip of the bankrupt Essar Steel.

The state government has also approved JSPL's proposal for a 36 mnt pa slurry pipeline from Barbil to its Angul plant. A 3 mn t pa slurry pipeline in Banspal of Ardent Steel in Keonjhar has also got state nod. Slurry pipelines are one of the conditions for expansion of large mines under the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute(NEERI) report accepted by state and centre.