Completion and commencement of operations at National Mineral Development Corporation’s (NMDC) Nagarnar Steel Plant are likely to face further delays, according to media reports. Amid COVID-19 pandemic, unavailability of labour delayed construction activities.
In April, NMDC re-started construction activities at the project site after the Indian government eased lockdown measures. Amongst the relaxations granted by the Indian government in April, construction activities were allowed to resume in non-hotspot areas or at projects outside cities.
Among other difficulties, experts from European countries like Denmark and Austria were unable to land in India to conduct trials required before the commissioning of operations at the plant. The company has also been unable to import machinery to be installed at the plant.
The upcoming plant will have an annual production capacity of 3mn mt. It will produce flat products including hot-rolled coil, sheets, plates along with other products like pig iron, granulated slag, and BF coke.