Nalco to set up 1,000-acre aluminium park in Angul

National Aluminium Company (Nalco), the largest producer and exporter of aluminium in the country, plans to set up an aluminium park at Angul to boost consumption of the metal within the state.

Most of the aluminium produced by the public sector blue chip company, at present, is either exported or sold outside the state for further value addition. Out of the average 30,000 tonnes of aluminium produced per month by Nalco's smelter at Angul, 28,000 tonnes are dispatched outside the state, with only 2,000 tonnes being consumed in the state.

The proposed aluminium park is expected to increase the metal consumption within the state to at least 20,000 tonnes per month, says CR Pradhan, chairman and managing director of Nalco.

He said both national and international aluminium players would be invited to set up downstream units in the proposed park to facilitate more metal sales within the state. Nalco has approached the Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa (IIDCO) to acquire about 1,000 acres to be handed over to it for the purpose.

Meanwhile, Nalco's plan to set up a second smelter plant along with a captive power plant in Orissa depends on the company being allotted additional bauxite mines and coal block for the project.

"For Nalco, the availability of bauxite mine lease at Gandhamardan and coal block is a must for initiating the second smelter plant," he said.

Nalco, which has been scouting for location in West Asia and South-east Asia to set up a smelter plant, had earlier announced to have a smelter plant with annual capacity of 500,000 tonne in Orissa, its second after the Angul facility, provided the company was assured of raw material linkage for the project.

"The Gandhamardhan area in Orissa is an ideal place to locate the second smelter of Nalco provided the company is allotted bauxite mining lease there," Pradhan said. Gandhamardhan has a reserve of approximately 200 million tonnes of bauxite.

The place is ideal because there would be little hiccups in land acquisition since most of the land is government-owned, Pradhan said.

Nalco is waiting for the mining lease, for which it applied in 2004, to go ahead with the project.

Besides, Nalco chief said, the company will have a 2,000-Mw captive power plant to feed power to the new smelter plant at a competitive price.

Though the company has a bitter experience regarding getting desired coal supply and putting in place an efficient ash disposal system for its existing captive power plant at Angul, a captive power plant will still be a cheaper option to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the smelter, he said.

He ruled out any power purchase from independent power producers (IPPs)because of financial factor. "When we produce power at Rs 2 per unit, the IPPs sell it at Rs 4, double the cost which is not viable for us," he said.

Nalco is yet to have a coal block for its proposed power plant, he said and regretted that though the company had applied for coal block at Baitarini west, the same block had been allotted to another company.

Allaying all apprehensions regarding delay in the ongoing expansion project of Nalco, both at Angul and Damanjodi facilities, he said they would be completed within stipulated time.