The ground breaking ceremony for 'I' Blast Furnace of Tata Steel was done by Mr. B Muthuraman, Managing Director, Tata Steel inside the Jamshedpur Works today.

This function marks Tata Steel's steady progress increasing the capacity of Jamshedpur Works to 10 MT, which is a part of the Company's Brownfield Expansion project with an estimated cost of Rs. 14,000 crores. The furnace is expected to get commissioned by November 2010.

The 'I' Blast Furnace will be designed, supplied, erected and commissioned by the consortium consisting of PW Italia, L&T and PW India.

Some of the salient features of the 'I' Blast Furnace are as follows -

1. Planned production of I BF is 3.05 mtpa of hot metal. It will produce about 29% of total hot metal of 10.55 mtpa

2. The layout will have 'green cover' on all three sides (West, North and East)

3. It will be an environment-friendly furnace and more fuel efficient

While addressing the gathering, Mr. B Muthuraman, Managing Director, Tata Steel said, "It is indeed an achievement that we are at the ground breaking ceremony of the I Blast Furnace. This is a project about productivity and a project aimed at making Jamshedpur, the best steel producing site. I would like to congratulate everybody who has worked towards making this function possible."

Mr. Raghunath Pandey, President, Tata Workers Union, said, "We would like to congratulate Tata Steel for this auspicious occasion. With this groundbreaking ceremony, Tata Steel has shown that it will continue to take up new challenges and will continue to look forward and grow, inspite of adverse external conditions."

The function was attended by Mr. H M Nerurkar, Chief Operating Officer, Tata Steel, Shri Raghunath Pandey, President, Tata Workers Union, Mr. R.P. Singh, Vice President (Engineering and Projects), Tata Steel, Mr. A M Misra, Vice President (Raw Material and Coke, Sinter and Iron), Tata Steel, Mr. Basevi, Chairman, Paul Wurth (PW) Italia, Mr. K G Hariharan, Senior Executive Vice President, L&T. Also present on the occasion were senior officials of Tata Steel, L&T and Paul Wurth along with committee members of the Tata Workers Union.

As a part of the Brownfield expansion, Tata Steel has already commissioned its H Blast Furnace 6 months ago in May 2008.