JSW Group resumes plans for Bengal plant, India

The JSW Group has proposed to build a 2.5Mta slag-based cement plant in Salboni, Bengal. Should everything proceed as planned, the Mumbai-based conglomerate may start the project next year.

The company had originally signed an agreement with the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee-government to invest in a 10Mt steel and 1680MW power plant, which had included a cement unit to utilise the slag generated from the blast furnace plant. However, the project was put on hold in December 2014. But now the plan is for the cement plant to be constructed first.

Slag will be sourced from the IISCO Steel Plant of Steel Authority of India at Burnpur or Tata Steel Jamshedpur, which is only 120km away from this West Midnapur town, according to Pankaj Kulkarni, director of JSW Cement to the Calcutta Telegraph. "We will import clinker from Thailand or China through Haldia port and haul it by rail," Kulkarni added.