Steel Union Minister of State Faggan Singh Kulaste said the center’s divestment plan has been put on hold, which can be described as a major victory for CM KCR.
Posted on – Thu 13 Apr 23 at 02:37pm
Visakhapatnam: Arguably Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao and BRS have scored a major victory in their campaign against the privatization of the Visakhapatnam steelworks, Iron Union state minister Faggan Singh Kulaste said the center’s divestment plans have been put on hold.
“So far, we will not proceed with the strategic divestment of RINL Visakhapatnam steel mill. We want to strengthen RINL,” said the minister, who was scheduled to meet steel mill workers in the evening.
RINL recently invited expressions of interest from private companies and steelmakers to provide working capital and raw materials and to purchase their products.
The Telangana government-controlled Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) has been studying the feasibility of participating in the EoI.
RINL has been facing the issue of lack of working capital to keep the factory running, hence the EoI was issued.
Of the three blast furnaces at the Vizag steelworks, only two are operating, with the third shutting down in January 2022 due to lack of liquidity.
Vizag Steelworks is the only shore-based integrated steelworks in the country, with two major ports within 25 km. According to the national steel policy, the plant expanded its production capacity from 3 million tons to 7.3 million tons.
In addition, it is the largest single public sector unit in the steel industry. However, due to the financial crisis, RINL was unable to reach its stated capacity.
