Nalco floats tender for appointment of consultants for Rs16,345-crore Orissa project

12 August 2008

Asia's largest integrated aluminium complex, National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco), has floated tenders for appointment of a consultant to prepare the detailed project report for its proposed Rs16,345-crore aluminum smelter-cum-power plant project  to be set up at the Jharsuguda district of Orissa, which has been cleared by the state government.

Nalco says it would need about 1,000 acres of land for setting up the aluminium smelter and power plant. The proposed 0.5 million tonnes per annum capacity aluminium smelter is scheduled to come up in two phases of 0.25 million tones each.

The company has sought the state's approval for providing land and water for the proposed project, which would it has pegged at about 1.2 lakh cubic metre per day.  
 
Nalco produces about 3.5 lakh tonnes of aluminium and 1.6 million tonnes of alumina per annum at present. The company plans to scale up its aluminium production to 4.6 lakh tonnes and that of alumina to 2.1 million tones within six months.    

The aluminium major intends to export part of the metal produced from the proposed smelter through its dedicated berth and port facilities Vishakhapatnam port.

Nalco plans to set up bauxite mine and refinery complex in Andhra Pradesh at an investment of Rs7000 crore, with a 42-lakh tonne per anum mining capacity and a 14-lakh tonne refining capacity.

Nalco plans to set up a 3.1 lakh ton per year smelter In Iran,  at an investment of Rs4000 crore. The company has signed a memorandum of agreement for forming a joint venture with Iran's Alpha, in which the Kerman Development Organisation (KDO) is a major partner. M N Dastur has been selected as a consultant for this project.