L&T-Paul Wurth Consortium Commissions India's Largest Blast Furnace at Tata Steel Plant

Mumbai, June 02, 2008: The L&T-Paul Wurth consortium commissioned the largest blast furnace in India at Tata Steel Limited, Jamshedpur on May 31, 2008. This state-of-the-art Blast Furnace "H" has a volume of 3,814 Cum. with a rated capacity to produce 2.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of hot metal. The project - the first of its kind in the country was completed in a record 25 months from the 'ground-breaking' ceremony, emphasising L&T's rapid pace of operations.The Blast Furnace "H" project was awarded to L&T and Paul Wurth, Italy, for design, manufacture, supply, erection, commissioning of the furnace, with auxiliary facilities on a turnkey basis.Paul Wurth's scope covered basic engineering, supply of proprietary and special equipment as well as technical supervisory services while L&T's scope spanned detail engineering, supply/manufacture of indigenous mechanical, electrical, instrumentation and automation works including complete site services involving civil, structural and erection works.The L&T-Paul Wurth consortium is currently executing two more 2.5 MTPA blast furnaces on a turnkey basis at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant and Bhushan Steel Plant, Meeramandali (Orissa), scheduled for commissioning in 2009 and 2010 respectively.The commissioning of Blast Furnace-H marks L&T's resolve to be a significant player in the steel industry in its quest to become 100 MT by 2011.