"With state of the art infrastructure facilities, equipped with a modern technology, Kutch can be developed as a modern version of Jamshedpur," said director of Jaypee Cement, VS Bajaj in a seminar on 'Opportunities & Challenges in Mineral & Mining Sector'. The event was organised by CII and Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC) on Friday.
Gujarat has about 11% of limestone reserves in which Kutch with over 65% has the maximum share. Bajaj who was one of the speakers of the event, emphasized on making Kutch an industrial city which can have large manufacturing base for cement and bauxite based industries.
Talking about opportunities Bajaj said, in western region, Gujarat produces around 60% of cement while Maharashtra is the biggest consumer. "Gujarat is famous for turning challenges into opportunities and to harness such opportunities into successful business ventures. At present, Gujarat has about 11% of limestone reserves, but has 8.6% cement producing capacity of the total capacity of the country. It would be a challenge for the state to harness the substantial limestone reserves and use it for the development of both the state and the nation," he said.
Bajaj further added that besides increasing cement usage within the state, Gujarat can also supply cement to other states thereby acting as a feeder state to adjoining states.
The seminar was inaugurated by VS Gadhvi, MD of GMDC who said that in Gujarat 33 major and 17 minor minerals are mined. "The state has also got a strong base of units engaged in value addition process of minerals," he said.
Maheshwar Sahu, principal secretary, Industries and Mines Government of Gujarat said that the main objective of the conference is to identify the challenges and make recommendations to strengthen the industrial development of the state associated with mineral exploitation. "Gujarat is a geologically blessed state. In the country, the state is in a leading position in major-mineral production value (including oil and natural gas). It ranks first in production of Fluorspar and Silica sand, second in Bauxite, Lignite, Fireclay and Clay (Others), third in Quartz & Ball clay and fourth in Limestone," said Sahu.
Chetan Tamboli, past chairman - CII Gujarat Council and managing director of Steel Cast Ltd, Chetan Shah, CEO & Managing Director of Ashapura Mines Ltd, Sanjay Shah, managing director of Cube Mines & minerals Ltd, K Srinivasan, managing director of Carborundum Universal, Jan Kotte, vice president (operations) of Aluchem India Ltd and Gurdeep Singh, head - centre of mining and environment of Indian School of Mines were also the speakers at the event.
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