Thursday, July 19, 2007

Jindal group gets 2.1 billion Dollar contract in Bolivia

The Indian company Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. signed an agreement on 18th July 2007 with the Government of Bolivia for an integrated project involving mining of iron ore and a steel plant. The iron ore will be mined from “El Mutun” which has one of the biggest reserves (40 billion tons) in the world. Jindal group will exploit 50% of the oron ore and will export about 10 million tons per year. They will put up a steel plant in Bolivia to produce 1.5 million tons of steel products. They will also put up a 450 MW gas power plant as part of the project. The investment of 2.1 billion dollars will be spread over a period of 8 years and the contract is for a period of 40 years.

The Government of Bolivia will earn 200 million Dollars annually from this project, which will generate 12000 jobs. President Evo Morales himself announced the signing of this largest investment project in Bolivia.

This is the biggest ever contract secured by an Indian company in Latin America. The fact that an Indian company has got such a big contract in a small, poor and less well known country, such as Bolivia, should now send a strong signal to the Indian corporate sector who have started looking at opportunities in Latin America in recent years. The Jindal project would also have other spin-off opportunities in railways, infrastructure, etc., for other Indian companies in Bolivia.

Congrats Jindals !

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