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Jeannot Krecke (left), non-executive director of ArcelorMittal, in Calcutta on Tuesday. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury
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Calcutta, Jan. 12: Bengal wants ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel maker, to set up a facility in the state.
Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee — who had a closed door meeting with Jeannot Krecke, non-executive director of ArcelorMittal, at the Writers’ Buildings today — has assured the Lakshmi Mittal-owned company that the state already has land in its possession for such projects.
“The chief minister has formally requested ArcelorMittal to set up a plant here. Mittal is the only person who will decide on the issue. I would certainly pass on the chief minister’s request to him,” Krecke told The Telegraph.
“I have told the chief minister that the company will get back to him soon after getting Lakshmi Mittal’s view on this,” he said.
ArcelorMittal chairman and CEO Lakshmi N. Mittal, who grew up in Calcutta, has already lined up three integrated steel projects in Jharkhand, Orissa and Karnataka.
The proposed six-million-tonne plant in Karnataka along with a power unit will be set up at an estimated investment of Rs 30,000 crore.
The two steel plants in Jharkhand and Orissa will attract investments worth $20 billion.
While Mittal announced the Karnataka project in November, plans for Jharkhand and Orissa were announced in 2005 and 2007, respectively. However, the company has not been able to acquire land either in Orissa or in Jharkhand.
In September, Mittal acquired over 30 per cent stake in Indian re-roller Uttam Galva Steels.
ArcelorMittal has its design and engineering centre in Calcutta. The facility, which started operations in May 2008, serves the entire design needs of ArcelorMittal, globally. The headcount at the centre is expected to go up to 250 over the next 3-5 years from over 60 at present.
Krecke, who is also the minister of economy and foreign trade for Luxembourg, said ArcelorMittal might drop the Jharkhand project if it was found to be not feasible because of delays. “But Lakshmi Mittal is the person who would take a final call,” he said.
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