KRAKATAU STEEL PROJECT: SAGA OF AN INDONESIAN RE-ROLLING PLANT.

Krakatau Steel's recently commissioned 150 000 t/y bar mill at Cilegon in Western Java, Indonesia, will be joined in operation by a 100 000 t/y medium section mill, thus bringing to final fruition a project which dates back to the later 1950's. The original scheme provided for an 80 000 t/y open-hearth steelmaking and rolling mill works to be supplied by the USSR and erected by Soviet personnel. However, in the mid-1960's, during the initial stages of construction, the project had to be abandoned and it was not until 1972 that work recommenced, following the new recommendations of a study carried out by Manderstam Associated Consultants SA, Geneva. This article examines the origins, radical redesign and implementation of the project and gives a detailed technical description of this re-rolling works.