The proposed aluminium park of the public sector National Aluminium Company (Nalco) at Angul in Orissa, which was mired in uncertainty, is finally set to see the light of the day.
The proposed venture will be set up jointly by Nalco and the state owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa (Idco). The two partners are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard soon.
Sources said, Nalco and Idco will have equal stake in the project. Meanwhile, they have agreed upon the terms and conditions in the draft MoU.
“All the contentious issues have been resolved and the terms and conditions of the draft MoU have been agreed upon by both the partners. The signing of the MoU is a matter of technical formalities”, a senior official of the state industry department told Business Standard.
Sources said, the MoU will be signed by the end of this month and the chief minister Naveen Patnaik will lay the foundation stone for the project in the first week of September. The proposed park will come up adjacent to the existing smelter plant of Nalco at Angul.
The complex will house various downstream and ancillary aluminium industries. Though it was originally planned to develop the project over 200 acres, it has been decided to acquire 50 to 100 acres more to increase the size of the park. This will take care of the future growth requirement and creation of some social infrastructure.
Since Angul is emerging as an important industrial hub of the state and there is demand for more office space, an institutional zone is proposed to be constructed at a later stage to reduce the start up costs of the new small and medium enterprises there. A team of government and company officials is scheduled to visit Angul to finalise the site.
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Since the private land acquisition involved problems of rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R), steps will be taken to minimise the need of private land.
As a measure to reduce the cost of the development of infrastructure, it has been decided to explore the possibility of developing the existing road instead of developing a new road. Similarly, efforts will be made to get the power connection from the minimum distance.
Sources said, the cost of developing the land in the park will be borne by Nalco and Idco equally and this will be recovered from the units which will come up in the park. An innovative pricing structure is proposed to be put in place for this.
The aluminium park, once fully developed, is expected to attract investment of Rs 300 to 400 crore. It may be noted, the project passed through uncertainty as the state government was earlier reluctant to join the project as a joint venture partner.