The Afghan Government will initiate the contract negotiations
with the SAIL-led consortium to develop the Hajigak iron ore mines on January
21 and the contract will be finalised and signed in March, the Afghanistan
Minister for Mines, Mr Wahidullah Shaharani, said on Friday.
“It is a huge contract which requires a lot of negotiations with
the developers to work out details of the power, steel plants, and the kind of
infrastructure to be developed. The Indian companies which are part of the
consortium have very good experience of corporate social responsibility to make
sure that what ever activity is done the community nearby benefits,” Mr
Shaharani said.
It was in November last year that a SAIL-led consortium won the
bid for Hajigak iron ore mines. The consortium consists of public sector
companies led by SAIL, NMDC and RINL, whereas the private sector players
include JSW Steel, JSW Ispat, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd and Monnet Ispat and
Energy Ltd,
The project involves establishing a 7 million tonnes steel plant
which will be done in two phases, establishing a power plant using coal to
generate 800 MW of power and some infrastructure for transportation.
Tender for another iron ore deposit will be put in summer and the
Afghanistan Govt seeks more proposals for global companies including Indian
companies for the development of gas fields and generating power from coal.
Source: The Business Line
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