Singareni unlikely to bid for Visakhapatnam Steel Plant rescue

Hyderabad: With no instructions from the Chief Minister's Office to the Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) to submit expression of interest (EoI) for participating in the bidding for repair of blast furnaces and providing working capital to the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, appears to be a remote possibility. Thursday is the last date for filing the bids.

In the absence of instructions from the government, SCCL had not done any documentation work to submit EOI, one of the members who visited the steel plant as part of an official delegation to examine the possibility of investing Rs 5000 crore in VSP told Hans India.

The major challenge before the government is the mobilisation of the funds to acquire the steel plant. Though the SCCL on Wednesday rubbished reports that it was in red, the officials felt that a well-calculated decision should be taken before deciding to invest Rs 5,000 crore in VSP.

At one point of time it was felt that if not SCCL, State Irrigation department or Telangana State Mineral Development Corporation (TSMDC) can consider filing of EoI. They were asked to be ready to pitch in if need be. But so far, they too have not made any preparations to submit the EoI.