Liberty Steel has this week restarted the first phase of production at Adhunik Metaliks Ltd and Zion Steel following the acquisition of the steel businesses in February 2020. The restart has been achieved in just six months following intensive work to prepare the site for their return to steelmaking operations after the previous owner fell into administration.
Adhunik is an integrated steel plant located at Chadrihariharpur near Rourkela in Odisha. The plant has sponge iron facility, blast furnace and electric arc furnace (EAF) steel making capability with 0.5mtpa capacity, ferro alloy plant and a 34MW captive power plant. The sites produce alloy steel products for the automotive, energy, engineering and oil & gas sectors besides participating in the commodity market of sponge iron and billets.
During the operational ramp up from early May 2020, the business took on 1,500 local people in permanent and contractual roles to undergo vital and extensive maintenance and repairs before the formal production restart. Liberty Steel provided salaries to employees once they were fully deployed on the site and 50% salaries to those waiting to start work as part of the gradual restart. An agreement to this effect was signed between the management, multiple unions and the Government Authority, underlining GFG Alliance and Liberty Steel’s ongoing commitment to local workers, communities and stakeholders.
GFG Alliance Executive Chairman, Sanjeev Gupta, said: “It’s a proud moment for me today, as we have been able to deliver what we promised to all stakeholders, Adhunik is on its way to becoming fully operational. It is five years since I started my industrial journey with the restart of operations at our first steelworks in Newport, UK. Here we have shown the same commitment to industrial communities by retaining and paying local workers as we start-up up operations and bring the Adhunik and Zion steel works back to life. I would like to thank everyone for their hard work and efforts to get us to this stage and I look forward to working together to create a sustainable Greensteel operation in India. We aim to integrate the business into the wider Liberty Steel Group family in the near future.”
Uday Gupta, MD of Adhunik said, “It has been a phenomenal journey to get to this stage but it has not been without challenges, especially as we continue to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. The myriad of challenges in starting up the plant and machinery was overcome through the indomitable spirit of the Adhunik team working together. With this progressive restart, we can now look forward working in partnership with all stakeholders to take the operations to the next level. There will be many more milestones in the future to look forward to as we unlock the full business and people potential we have.”
