Kolkata: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would lay the foundation stone for the modernisation and expansion of the Burnpur-based IISCO Steel Plant (ISP) of SAIL on December 24, which would involve an investment of Rs 95.92 billion.

With the expansion, the capacity of ISP, one of the oldest operating steel plants in the country, would go up to 2.5 million tonne from the existing level of 0.8 million tonne, SAIL sources said.

The major facilities to be installed under the modernisation package includes a 7-metre tall coke oven battery, two sinter machines, new blast furnace, three 150-tonne converters, two 6-strand billet casters and one 4-strand beam blank/bloom caster.

A new universal section mill of 0.6 m.T capacity and a new wire rod and bar mill of 1.2 m.T capacity would also come up under the package..

The plant had incurred a loss of Rs 2.45 billion during 2005-06. Its turnover during the year was Rs 14.36 billion. It had however posted a profit of Rs 46 crore on a turnover of Rs 14.87 billion in 2004-05.

The management of Indian Iron and Steel Company, then a private entity, was taken over by the Centre in 1972 and in 1978-79 it had become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Steel Authority of India Ltd.

Despite support by SAIL, IISCO continued to be in the red due to high cost of operations stemming from its obsolete technology, aging equipment with low productivity and a large workforce.

IISCO became a BIFR company in 1994.