Hooghly Met Coke & Power Co Ltd light up the first coke oven

Jamshedpur, September 18, 2007 - Hooghly Met Coke & Power Co Ltd, a Joint Venture between Tata Steel Ltd and WBIDC, installed its first module of coke ovens which was lighted up today by Dr T Mukherjee, Deputy Managing Director (Steel) Tata Steel Ltd and Chairman, Hooghly Met Coke & Power Co Ltd, along with Mr Lakshman Seth, Honorable Member of Parliament and Chairman, Haldia Development Authority in the presence of other dignitaries.

The Company is in the process of implementing its green field project of setting up a stand-alone Coke Ovens Complex along with Power Plant at Haldia, West Bengal. It is designed to manufacture low ash and metallurgical coke along with power generated from the waste heat produced in the process.

On the occasion of lighting up of the first module of the Coke Oven, Dr. T Mukherjee congratulated everybody on the achievement and said, "The lighting up of the Coke Oven has taken place in a short span of time. This commendable job has been possible only through the hard work of the workers of Hooghly Met Coke and the continuous support of Mr. Lakshman Seth and Mr. Rajiv Dubey. " While addressing the gathering, Mr. Lakshman Seth said, "I am spellbound by the fast progress made by Met Coke in setting up its first module of Coke Ovens and would like to congratulate everybody who has been involved with it."

The ground-breaking ceremony for this project was performed by Shri Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Hon'ble Chief Minister of West Bengal on 18th February 2006. The Brick Laying ceremony was performed by Shri Nirupam Sen, Minister In-charge, Commerce & Industries, Government of West Bengal, on 31st October 2006.

Besides generating additional revenue for Haldia Dock Complex through import of coal, its principal raw material, HMC will source most of its skilled and semi-skilled workforce locally to meet the aspirations of the people of Haldia, in particular and West Bengal, in general. The technology adopted by HMC i.e. Heat Recovery Coke Ovens, is relatively new to the country and is designed to meet the stringent environmental norms. Low ash metallurgical coke produced at Haldia, will be fully dedicated to Tata Steel Ltd for their Jamshedpur Works and the power produced, will be exported to the State Grid.