ICVL invites bids for consultants to Indonesia Steel Plant

International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd (ICVL), set up by a clutch of PSUs to acquire overseas coal resources, has invited expressions of interest (EoI) from global consultants to conduct a feasibility study for an integrated steel plant in Indonesia. The last date for submitting the bids to the tender is July 19, 2011. ICVL has recently initiated talks to set up a three million tonne (mt) steel plant in Indonesia alongwith the SAIL at a total investment of 15,000 crore.

For ICVL, a special purpose vehicle set up by the government to acquire coal companies, mines assets and blocks abroad, this marks perhaps the first tangible progress in pursuing an overseas mineral project. While the company has bid for a few assets across the world it has not been able to close any deal so far despite having an acquisition kitty of close to 10,000 crore. The latest project is, in fact, part of growing bilateral economic relations between India and Indonesia. Earlier, ICVL had signed a MoU for developing mineral assets and processing units in central Kalimantan.

ICVL is promoted by steel majors Steel Authority of India Ltd , Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd ( RINL), large miners like Coal India and NMDC Ltd and power giant NTPC Ltd. Its main objective is to supplement the current shortfall in coking coal estimated to be around 80 MT.

The feasibility study will be conducted initially in two stages, according to the tender called by ICVL.

A pre-feasibility study in stage one will be followed by a detailed feasibility study for the project in the second stage. ICVL wants to appoint a global consultant to conduct a study for mineral deposits. The consultant will also prepare a conceptual report on an integrated steel plant in Central Kalimantan. The consultant will be required to formulate a strategy for setting up a high capacity coking coal mine, iron ore, limestone and dolomite mines at prospective locations identified in Central Kalimantan province of Indonesia.

The consultant will also have to offer strategy inputs on logistics support, arrangements for flow of raw materials in Central Kalimantan and flow of surplus raw materials to India, infrastructure support and arrangements for transportation of finished goods. After discussing the strategy with ICVL, the consultant will be asked to take up exploration job.

For the steel plant the consultant would take up topographical survey, soil testing, as well as land survey and land permit. Source: Economic Times