State-owned aluminium producer National Aluminium Company (Nalco) is inching towards setting up its long-awaited second aluminium smelter and power complex in Odisha within the premises of its present plant at Angul at a total cost of INR 14,000 crore.
Earlier, Nalco had identified Sunergarh in western Odisha as the preferred site for the new smelter, but then they zeroed in on Angul to cope with certain infrastructural bottlenecks. The aluminium smelter will have an annual capacity of 0.4 million tonne and will come up at an investment of INR 10,000 crore. It will be accompanied by a 500 Mw captive power plant costing INR 3,000 crore.
Infrastructure-wise, Angul is better equipped with facilities. Land and manpower are readily available there. So setting up the new smelter there will be easier for the company, said TK Chand, chairman and managing director (CMD), Nalco.
He said, the new smelter will be built with latest technology. Smelting pots having 600 amperage-energy efficiency will be used which will make the cost of production globally competitive. The additional smelting capacities, along with use of latest energy efficient technologies to reduce cost of production, will boost the topline and bottomline of the company, Chand said.
Nalco was recently allotted the Potangi bauxite deposits in Odisha. This allotment has bolstered the company's ambitious expansion plans. The company also intends to expand its alumina refinery capacity at Damanjodi facility by one million tonne using this bauxite.
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