Bhubaneswar: The Union Government has assured that expansion projects of National Aluminium Company ( NALCO) is very much on priority.
Replying to a recent letter of Union Petroluem & Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Coal Minister Prahlad Joshi said that expansion project of Captive Power Project (CPP) and Smelter Plant at Angul are covered under the capacity expansion projects of the company.
“I have been informed that there is no change in these proposed brownfield expansion projects of NALCO. These brownfield expansions have been planned at Angul District of Odisha,” Joshi wrote in his letter made available to the media on Wednesday.
“Preparation of DPR is underway and company will do due diligence on feasibility of these projects based on DPR. Ministry of Mines is taking all steps for implementation of above projects to achieve Prime Minister’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat. These proposed expansion projects will be beneficial in progress of country and State,” the Union Coal Minister replied.
Notably Mr.Pradhan on January 4 had urged Union Coal, Mines & Parliamentary Affairs Minister Joshi to expedite capacity expansion of Nalco’s Aluminium smelter plant at Angul.
Mr.Pradhan, in his letter, had requested Joshi to take necessary steps for increasing Nalco smelter plant’s capacity to 1 MTPA from existing 0.46 MTPA.
The National Aluminium Company is undertaking a brownfield expansion project for their aluminium smelter plant at Angul, which include construction of a 1400 MW feeder Captive Power Plant (CPP).
The cost of this project, which is presently at the land acquisition stage, is estimated to be around Rs 22,000 crore, Mr.Pradhan had said in the letter.
This apart, he had said aluminium smelting is a highly power-intensive process and the feasibility of this brownfield expansion project is heavily dependent on a steady supply of affordable coal to the 1400 MW feeder CPP for uninterrupted generation of power.
“In this context, I would like to put forward a proposal for commencement of the brownfield expansion project for increasing the capacity of Nalco’s aluminium smelter plant at Angul from 0.46 MTPA to 1 MTPA,” he had said.