German cement major Heidelberg and domestic giants including Ultratech and Reliance Cements have evinced interest to be the joint venture partner in state run Rashtriya Ispat Nigam's proposed INR 1,000 crore, 3 million tonne per annum cement plant at Vizag.

Mr AP Choudhary CMD of RINL told PTI that "We are looking for a partner to set up a 3 million tonne per annum plant at Visakhapattanam. Heidelberg, Ultratech and Reliance Cements have shown interests to be our JV partner.”

Sources said Zuari Cements, Bhavya Cements, JP Cements and Binani Cements have also shown interests in the joint venture. These firms responded to the Expression of Interest issued by RINL earlier.

Mr Choudhary said that "The finalisation of the partner would not take more than 2 to 3 months from now. We will be able to establish the joint venture before the end of the current fiscal.”

Asked how much stake the steel maker would offer to its partner, he said no decision has been taken yet, but RINL is willing to give up to 74% stake to the partner since cement making was not its core business.

The proposed venture would use fly ash and slag, two key raw materials for making of cement, generated from RINL's Vizag plant, where the capacity would shortly be increased to 6.4 million tonne per annum from 3 million tonne per annum.

Mr Choudhary said that around INR 1,000 crore investment would be required to set up the cement plant adding that the cost would be borne by the two firms according to the shareholding pattern. He added that the production at the plant is likely to start in two years from the zero date of construction.

(Sourced from PTI)