Mamata Banerjee to break ground for JSW cement plant today

The plant is being set up by JSW Steel on 134 acres of land, a part of the 4,006 acres. Only 294 acres had to be directly purchased, the rest was government land, which was directly transferred to JSW.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee will lay the foundation stone of a 2.4 million tonne (mt) cement plant in Salboni on Wednesday, reports a financial newspaper.

The plant is being set up by JSW Steel on 134 acres of land, a part of the 4,006 acres. Only 294 acres had to be directly purchased, the rest was government land, which was directly transferred to JSW.

Former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had laid the foundation stone in 2008 for a 10 mt integrated steel and a 1,600 mw power plant at a cost of Rs. 40,000 crore.

However, the project didn’t take off due to alleged Maoist threats and later owing to the global financial turmoil, according to the newspaper. 

In December last year, Sajjan Jindal, Chairman and MD of JSW Steel, announced that the 10 mt tonne steel plant with a 1,600 mw power plant has been kept on hold.

Jindal later promised to set up a 2.4 mt cement plant and a 300 mw power plant at a cost of Rs. 700 crore.