Monday, February 13, 2006

Ajaokuta Steel to produce 2.3m tonnes of steel yearly

THE Ajaokuta Steel Company plans to produce 2.3 million tonnes of steel yearly, as Global Steel Holding Limited, its new managers, commenced comprehensive overhaul of the plant.

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The Chairman of Global Steel Holding, Mr. Pramod Mittal, said the company "shall soon commence iron making at Ajaokuta Steel and will soon have the blast furnace ready for production."

Mittal stressed that "Nigeria will have a 2.3 million tonnes rated capacity of steel plant to meet the total domestic demand and many of you know that we have already started exporting steel from the country."

He expressed confidence that in a few years the steel producers in the country would be able to meet all the requirements of the African continent.

"We have plans to increase the product base to include flat steel. These are not currently produced in the country. We plan to put up an additional manufacturing plant with a capacity of three million tonnes for this purpose," he said.

On the rehabilitation work at Ajaokuta, the chairman said coke ovens and by-product plants have been rehabilitated, while conveyor belts and other equipment used for coal handling had been reconditioned.

Mittal also said that inspection and trial run on the 52 kilometres long Itakpe-Ajaokuta rail line had been done and that four locomotives had been rehabilitated.

He said the company's power distribution and instrumentation had been modernised with the replacement of oil-filled and paper insulated cables with imported XLPS cables.

He disclosed that the company had improved water supply from 8,000 million litres to 8,800 million litres per hour for the town where the company is located.