Tata Steel to source water from Nilachal Ispat for Kalinganagar plant.

Tata Steel, the country's largest primary steel producer, has entered into a water-sharing agreement with Nilachal Ispat Nigam for its 3 million tonne Kalinganagar plant. Tata Steel is yet to secure land acquisition approvals for inter-connectivity for its own water supply to the plant scheduled to be commissioned by December. "Tata Steel will receive water from Nilachal Ispat from November 1 for a period of one year," an executive at Nilachal Ispat told Business Standard. "The government of Odisha has issued us permission to supply up to 17.5 cubic meter per second (42,000 cu meter per day) of water and we will try to supply the entire quantity to the Tata plant," he added. Nilachal Ispat refrained from divulging the financial details of the deal and said any water supply beyond a year would need board approval. Tata Steel is also sourcing water from Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) for its Kalinganagar plant. "We are supplying 1,100 cubic meter per hour to Tata Steel since March and this contract is for one year. We will provide an extension if the company seeks it," said an official in the water division of IDCO. For every tonne of steel needs about 4 cubic meters of water, which means 12 million cubic meters of water for a 3 million tonne steel plant, according to industry sources. Tata Steel did not respond to a query about its water shortfall at the Kalinganagar facility and its plans to fix it. Delays in approvals for inter-connectivity of water supply was the reason Tata Steel had to enter these agreements, said Nilachal Ispat executives and IDCO officials.