State-run generation utility NTPC and aluminium giant National Aluminium Co. Ltd ( NALCO) entered into an agreement to jointly set up a 2.4 giga watt(GW) power plant and one million tonne aluminium production facility in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district, Gajmara. The total investment estimated at INR 36,000 crore, the companies said in a statement. The proposed power plant comprises of three units of 800 MW each.
Nalco chairman and MD Tapan Kumar Chand said construction of the power plants and the aluminium production unit to complete in four years.
Power Minister Piyush Goyal informed that the generated power will be taken by the NALCO as a joint venture (JV) partner for the Brownfield expansion of its 5 lakh tonne Aluminium smelter at Angul and the Greenfield project of a 6 lakh tonne smelter at Kamakhya Nagar in Odisha. He explained in a situation of India being Coal surplus and power prices coming down, NTPC would be able to provide uninterrupted power supply to NALCO’s plants through this JV project
Goyal further stated: “We have brought back Aluminium smelter plant to the people of Odisha, which was going to be established outside the country due to lack of cheap power in the country a couple of years back. This would not only give a boost employment generation in the region but also give a fillip to economy of the country as a whole.”
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The joint venture strives to keep the cost of power generation to a minimum so as to benefit aluminium production, NTPC chairman and managing director Gurdeep Singh said.
According to Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the power plant at Dhenkanal and the increased Aluminium production at Angul and Kamakhya Nagar would fuel industrial growth in a sustainable manner and transform the face of the region in near future.
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