Business Standard reported that the first phase of TATA Steel's greenfield steel plant at Kalinganagar in Odisha’s Jajpur district will go on stream by the second half of the next fiscal.

The newly joined Mr TV Narendran MD of TATA Steel said that “The first phase of the project will be three million and will be operational in the second half of FY15, which means sometime between September 2014 to March to 2015.” Kalinganagar project is the company’s first integrated steel plant outside Jamshedhpur.

Mr Narendran, who took over as the TATA Steel MD recently was felicitated by Utkal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, an apex industry body of the state, here, last evening.

The first phase will cost about INR 25,000 crore. The project was estimated at INR 15,400 crore at the time of signing of MoU with the state government in 2004. The cost has now escalated to about INR 40,000 crore due to delays.

A police firing at the plant site in 2006, which killed 13 tribals protesting land acquisition, had pegged back the start of work. The company is currently constructing the first module of the project on 1,700 acres of land it has in its possession, with plans to scale up the capacity to six million tonne as and when it takes possession of the rest of the 3,500 acres it has been allotted.

On the present status of the project, Mr Narendran said that the construction work is in full swing with engagement of about 35,000 workers.

He informed that the company’s proposed 50,000 tonne per annum ferroalloys plant and 0.4 million tonne bar mill at Gopalpur will also be commissioned in FY15. He said that “We have started the work at Gopalpur which was slowed down due to the cyclone. Both the plants will be commissioned in FY15.”

TATA Steel would invest INR 1,000 crore on these two projects at Gopalpur, which are being put up as part of its role as the anchor tenant of an industrial park.