[ferro-alloys.com] State-run RINL and MOIL are exploring the possibility of setting up the Rs 200-crore ferro alloy unit at Vizag, after the project was found to be unviable at original location of Vizianagaram, a source said.

Nearly four years after PSUs decided to set up a ferro alloy unit, the two companies now find that the original location is not viable and efforts are on to set it up in Vizag, about 70 km from Vizianagaram city.

Rashritya Ispat Nigam (RINL) and MOIL had incorporated a joint venture company with equal equity participation in July, 2007 to set up a ferro alloys plant at Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh with an investment of Rs 200 crore.

"The entire project is getting revisited as it is not found viable in the original location," the source said.

The respective boards of the two firms deliberated on the issue and "decided to further explore the alternative strategy of installing the unit at Vizag (Visakhapatnam)," he added.

RINL has its lone steel-making facility in Vizag.

The original capacity of the plant at 57,000 tonnes per annum stands, he said, adding that the shareholding pattern of the joint venture, RINLMOIL Ferro Alloys Pvt Ltd, is also unlikely to be changed in the changed scenario.

Ferro alloys are used in steel making for de-oxidising purposes.

Meanwhile, MOIL is also setting up a ferro alloy plant in joint venture with SAIL with a proposed Rs 400 crore outlay.

The project, with 1.06 lakh tonnes per annum capacity to be set up in Chhattisgarh has already received the nod of the Environment Ministry.