Essar awaits final approvals to begin work on steel plant in Saudi

Essar Group is awaiting final approvals to start investing about USD 4.5 billion in building a low-carbon steel plant in Saudi Arabia, its top official Prashant Ruia said.

The approvals are expected anytime now, after which the conglomerate will start working on the 4 million tonne per year steel plant along with port facilities at Ras Al-Khair in Saudi Arabia.

"We still haven't got all the final approvals," Ruia, director of Essar Capital, which manages the group's portfolio of investments, said in an interview with PTI.

The plant will meet domestic steel demand in Saudi Arabia.

"Saudi Arabia is going through a large growth phase, a large part of steel today is getting imported into Saudi Arabia. So this is basically a domestic plant," he said.

The oil-rich kingdom is eyeing becoming an electric vehicle manufacturing hub, manufacturing more than 3 lakh cars annually by 2030. Essar is looking to tap into the demand for steel for such cars as well as for other consumer goods ...