Steel Minister pulled up SAIL for delay in projects

Steel Authority of IndiaThe government criticized the Steel Authority of India Ltd. for slow growth in its expansion plans. It has decided to review its work on regular basis for timely completion of ongoing and new projects. SAIL has to increase its steel production capacity to 26 million tons by the financial year 2010.

Union Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan reviewed the progress of various expansion projects of SAIL worth Rs 54,000 crore. He added, "I am not satisfied with the pace of SAIL's brown-field expansions and have asked the steel secretary to ensure that the PSU completes the envisaged projects in a time bound manner."

He expressed concerns over the delay in execution of expansion plans and directed the concerned top brass of Steel Ministry to expedite procurement of equipment from global suppliers. He reminded the role of SAIL in increasing steel production capacity of the country to 124 million tons, by the end of 2012.

Meanwhile, SAIL's officials assured the minister that the execution of expansion projects would soon speed up as at present suppliers have no fresh orders due to the global slow down.

General: