The Hindu : Business : Balco to set up aluminium plant in Chhattisgarh

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Friday, Aug 10, 2007
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Balco to set up aluminium plant in Chhattisgarh

The Vedanta group will invest Rs. 8,100 cr.

STEAMING AHEAD: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh (centre), looks on as Additional Chief Secretary of Chhattisgarh, P. Joy Oommen, and Director, BALCO, Pramod Suri, exchange documents at Korba in Raipur. - PHOTO: PTI

RAIPUR: Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd. (Balco) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Chhattisgarh Government to set up an aluminium smelter plant with a capacity of 6.5 lakh tonnes annually at Korba, involving an investment of Rs. 8,100 crore.

The MoU was signed here on Wednesday in the presence of Chief Minister Raman Singh and Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal.

After completion of the project, Balco, a part of the Vedanta group, would become one of the largest single location aluminium plants in the world with a combined capacity of one million tonnes annually, taking into account its existing capacity, Mr. Agarwal said. However, he made it clear that the new plant would be set up only if the State Government provided land.

Replying to a question on the encroachment of about 1,000 acres by Balco, Mr. Agarwal claimed that all these lands had been in the possession of the company since its PSU days and not after its disinvestment in 2001. Balco had earlier obtained a court stay against the initiative of the State Government on the encroachment by the company. “Whatever the court says, we will abide by that,” Mr. Singh said.

If the State Government cooperates and a special economic zone is established in the Korba area the company is ready to provide cheaper power to industries there, Mr. Agarwal said. — PTI

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