Shri Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee , Hon'ble Chief Minister of West Bengal graced the ground breaking ceremony of the Hooghly Met Coke & Power Company Limited (HMCPCL) at Haldia, West Bengal, in the presence of Dr T Mukherjee Deputy Managing Director, Tata Steel, Mr B.K. Singh, Managing Director HMCPCL, Mr Lakhhan Seth ,Member of Parliament, Dr Sabyasachi Sen, Principal Secretary, Commerce & Industries, Government of West Bengal and other dignitaries.

Shri Bhattacharjee complimented the effort of the Hooghly Met Coke & Power Co Ltd in setting up the unit in Haldia, West Bengal. The Chief Minister assured all assistance to the Company.

Dr T Mukerjee thanked the Chief Minister and his Government for the support extended to the Hooghly Met Coke and the other units of the Tata Group in West Bengal.

Hooghly Met Coke & Power Company Limited (HMCPCL) is a joint venture between Tata Steel Limited and West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (WBIDC). This Joint Venture Agreement was signed in the presence of Shri Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Hon'ble Chief Minister of West Bengal and Mr Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Sons, on 12th January 2005. Haldia, an important and strategic industrial hinterland of West Bengal was identified for setting up this Coke & power plant. The land identified for the project was officially handed over by Kolkata Port Trust - Haldia Dock Complex to HMCPCL on 28th October 2005.

The Company intends to start commercial operations early 2007 with active support from the West Bengal Government, the Ministry of Shipping and Kolkata Port Trust - Haldia Dock Complex. The Haldia Development Authority has also come forward with support to ensure timely execution of the project. Hooghly Met Coke has plans to source both skilled and unskilled manpower locally, thereby ensuring industrial and socio-economic development.

HMCPCL will set up merchant coke ovens unit at Haldia, adopting the heat recovery route. The project will manufacture superior grade metallurgical coke primarily for use in blast furnaces of Tata Steel and would also consider sale both in domestic as well as in the international markets. With state-of-the-art technology for producing world-class low ash metallurgical coke, the entire raw material i.e. coking coal, will be sourced from countries such as Australia, Canada, Indonesia and the CIS countries. In a significant step forward, the Company has signed a contract with Beijing Sino Steel Industry & Trade Group (SSIT), to source technology from Shanxi Provincial Chemical Design Institute, China, which ranks amongst the best in the world.

The company envisages an annual coke production capacity of 1.2 million tonnes and the waste heat thus generated will be utilized for producing about 90 MW of electric power. Further, a Power Purchase Agreement has been signed between HMCPCL and West Bengal State Electricity Board for sale of power produced.

This technology based on heat recovery process meets modern day's stringent international environmental standards, and is hence well equipped to deliver as per required norms. Emission levels will be significantly reduced as compared to the conventional coke oven based on recovery type technology. Statutory No Objection Certificates from the State Pollution Control Board and Environment Ministry have already been obtained for the project.