Steel ministry identifies infrastructure gaps in 38 projects

The Ministry of Union Steel has identified 38 projects with gaps in the infrastructure and the necessary procedures for them. These projects involve four ministries that include railways, shipping, and ports and waterways. Civil Aviation; Petroleum and natural gas.

Among these projects, 11 are new projects, and 27 are existing projects, according to an internal report of the ministry.

In all, there are 10 railway projects; Nine of them are from the Ministry of Maritime Transport, Ports and Waterways. six each from the National Highways Authority of India and the Ministry of Civil Aviation; and seven from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

connectivity projects

All projects undertaken by the railways are interconnected.

For example, the doubling of the railway line along the Angul-Talcher-Suhinda line is mentioned to serve the Talcher coal mines, steel mills and other industries in the Angul industrial region and also to connect the Jharsuguda and Sambalpur districts with ports.

Similarly, the tripling of the Banspani-Jakhapura line has been mentioned to connect the iron ore mines in Odisha and Jharkhand to the coastal regions and also to serve the steel mills and other industries in the Sukhinda-Kalinganagar industrial area.

The connection of Paradip Port to the dedicated freight corridor via the Paradip-Haridapur Line (SPV for the rail) and the linking of the Panisbani-Jakapura line to the Port of Paradip are some of the significant projects with gaps in infrastructure identified by the Ministry of Steel.

Also mentioned for action in the report are the Jharsuguda – Sambalpur – Titlagarh – Vijaynagaram and Raipur – Titlagarh – Vijaynagaram lines, both of which are required to improve links for coal and iron ore traffic to and from Vizag and coal and steel from Vizag to other parts of South India.

Use of waterways

The ministry’s report also says action is needed in the Haldia-Sahibang-Patna-Varanasi (or National Waterways 1) streams; on the Brahmani River connecting Talcher, Angul, and Kalinganagar (or National Waterways 2); Also on Amba River Roads (NW 10).

The report states that “operationalism is required for cost-effective transportation.”

By the way, the Union Department of Steel has been writing to Mills and the Department of Shipping, Ports and Waterways to push for waterways as an alternative, cost-effective route to transport coal, steel and other offerings.

Removing congestion at Paradip Port through capacity enhancement (to 12.5 Mtpa by 2022 and 25 Mtpa by 2025) and construction of deep draw berths for steel mills at Paradip Port are among the key projects in the Infrastructure Gap report.

Also reported is decongestion in Haldia, Dhamra and Subarnareka.

other ministries

The report mentions the need for four lanes on the NH53 stretch between Duburi and Paradip, two additional lanes on SH20 (Duburi-Panikolli) and NH720 (Duburi-Bamnipal-Keonjhar) between Nagarnar and Visakhapatnam, and NHAI’s expansion of the NH2 stretch between Bournpur and Kolkata.

Similarly, construction and expansion of airstrips and airport expansion projects in Nagarnar, Angola, Raurkila, Jamshedpur, Jarsuguda and Raipur also found mention.

The Ministry of Steel has also called for pipelines such as Kanai Chatta-Shrimapur to be put into operation; Malavaram – Bhilwara – Bhopal Vijaypur; Jagdishpur, Haldia, and Bokaro Dhamra Phases 2 and 3; Barony of Guwahati; and Srikakulam-Angul, among others. The report stated that “operation will help provide cheaper and green fuel, which is gas for steel production.”