After assuming charge of the steel ministry, Ray, who comes from Orissa, has shown active interest in reviving the Indian steel sector in general and SAIL in particular as this vital sector of the economy has been passing through a difficult phase for the past few years. And RSP, which was once a profit-making plant, has been put at the centre of his plans as it is now facing an interest and depreciation burden of around Rs 750 crore after the capitalisation of its modernised units.

Ray has roped in former SAIL officials for revamping RSP. The members of the technical committee are two former SAIL chairmen PL Agarwal and SR Jain, former Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) managing director ERC Sekhar, Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd chairman & managing director and former managing director of BSP Subrata Ray and former executive director of Alloy Steel Plant NC Nayak.

The technical committee members will visit the steel plant located in Orissa on December 11 and 12 and study the problems of its various units, including over-bedding and blending plant, sinter plant - II, basic oxygen furnace - II, continuous casting mill - II, blast furnace - IV, hot strip mill, cold rolling mill, electric resistant welded pipe plant and spiral welded pipe plant.

Although RSP has completed its modernisation, it is yet to get over the teething troubles and average production has only been around 60-65 per cent. Moreover, there is a lot to be done regarding quality of products even from the modernised units. The facilities available are also not being properly utilised, RSP insiders admit.

RSP's sinter plant is doing well. The blast furnace is also doing well, but not consistently and needs improvement. The steel melting shop - II, which is the heart of RSP modernisation, has a capacity of 1.35 million tonne (mt). But it is operating at a capacity of around 72-75 per cent. To bring the cost of production down to the profit-making level and meet the techno-economic parameters, it has to be run at a capacity of at least 90 per cent.

The committee members will study in detail the problem of RSP in such areas as iron and steel making, rolling mills, raw material handling system, hot metal production and conversion, quality and techno-economic parameters and suggest remedial measures. They will also interact with senior officials of the plant on issues such as product and product-mix, optimum utilisation of resources, strict adherence to standard operational practices and standard maintenance practices and marketing strategies in tune with business environment.