REQUERIMIENTOS

raw materials requires special attention as extraction of mineral resources is largely confined to remote and relatively inaccessible areas in the eastern and southern regions of India. Mining areas in general are characterized by poor transport and logistics network, power shortage and water scarcity. These infrastructural constraints continue to dent steel industry‘s competitiveness on account of higher transportation cost, higher tariffs, and long delays.

5.1.1 Till now as part of the plan formulation , the issue of infrastructure development has always been appraised at the macro level only, with no separate focus on industry specific requirements like that of steel making or its associated mining industry. Even the Working Group on Steel for the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-12) had not fixed any specific targets on the subject. Today this approach is no longer valid because every tonne of steel produced requires movement of at least four tonnes of crucial raw materials like iron ore, coal, limestone and other minerals. This implies that the total traffic demand emanating from the steel industry will nearly double in the next five years i.e., by 2016-17. Therefore the transport logistics for the industry will have to be intensive, quicker and more efficient to take on larger traffic load to sustain the manufacturing operations.

5.1.2 Keeping in view crucial factors like the terrain of the mining areas, the distance to be covered and the need for bulk movement of raw-materials the three main infrastructure linkages required for transportation by the industry are railways, roads and Ports. The industry‘s existing facilities, prospects and development options under each of these three options is detailed below:-

5.2.0 Railways

5.2.1 Railway transportation is dependent on two factors i.e.

(1) Rail infrastructure which includes railway network, load bearing capacity and speed, allied infrastructure such as sidings, facilities for repair and maintenance , availability of rolling stock , communication facilities etc. and

(2) Rail-customer interface and terminal infrastructure.

5.2.2 As far as augmentation of rail infrastructure is concerned, Railways has already taken the initiative to augment its infrastructure through:

90 (1) Identification and augmentation of routes that require additional capacity. Indian railways have several important projects in hand currently which will provide a much better transport infrastructure in the major steel and related mining areas.

(2) Commissioning of work for setting up of the eastern and western dedicated freight corridors

(3) Induction of sufficient fleet of wagons/locos. (4) Increasing axle load of wagons to 25 tonnes. (5) Running of long haul trains

5.2.3 In the case of steel industry the terminal Capacity both at loading and unloading end plays a crucial role in handling of rail borne traffic. A number of the terminals at integrated steel plants and ports do not have adequate infrastructure to handle rail borne traffic in an efficient manner leading to abnormal detention of wagons/locos. The terminal performance is further affected due to frequent break down of handling equipment at the terminal. For handling of rail borne traffic, appropriate infrastructure is necessary which will help in seamless service to the industry. Similarly development of unloading terminal has to be given priority to meet growing demand.

5.2.4 Presently, no data is available to link investment made by Indian Railways directly to the requirement of the steel and the related minerals industries, although the projects where new railway connectivity is required have been identified. The projects listed in Indian Railways Vision 2020 document as on 1st April 2009, have experienced serious cost overruns. A lot more funds are required to complete these projects. While a lot of progress has been reported to have been made since the status in 2009, Indian Railways will require substantial additional funding in aggregate.

5.2.5 An important point to be noted is that for most steel makers, infrastructure development will have to be seen initially in the context of the prospects of development of the minerals. Several iron ore mining companies like NMDC Ltd., Sesa Goa, MSPL Ltd. etc., have already reported plans for enhancement of their iron ore mining capacity. Similarly steel companies having captive mines are also expanding their mining capacity. In addition, in the past few years, several small and mid size mining leases have been accorded the necessary clearances to start mining. As per the preliminary estimate, based on the discussions with the mining industry, one may expect iron ore mining capacity in the country to rise to about 360 million tonnes by by 2015. The scale of investment required for providing supportive linkages for movement of these mined raw materials across the country is therefore quite high.

5.2.6 A substantial portion of iron ore is transported by road from mine heads to the loading stations. Transportation by road is an expensive proposition. Besides such bulk movement of minerals also puts considerable strain on the road network leading to frequent breakdown, with implications for other users of the roads. Therefore it is desirable to opt for rail linkages to mines for reducing dependence on roads.

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