This paper presents a new scheme to design decentralized robust PI controllers for uncertain LTI multi-variable systems. Sufficient conditions for closed-loop stability and closed-loop diagonal dominance (almost decoupling) of a multivariable system are obtained. Satisfying these conditions and robust performance of the overall system are modeled as local robust performance problems. Then. by appropriately selecting the time constants of the closed-loop isolated subsystems in the IMC (internal Model Control) strategy, the defined local robust performance problems are solved. To design a decentralized robust PI controller for a real industrial utility boiler, a control oriented nonlinear model for the boiler is identified. The nonlinearity of the system is modeled as uncertainty for a nominal LTI multivariable system. Using the new proposed method, a decentralized PI controller for the uncertain LTI model is designed. The designed controller is applied to the real system. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed methodology. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.