The Union Government has assured that expansion projects of the National Aluminium Company (Nalco) are very much on priority. Replying to a recent letter of Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Coal Minister Prahlad Joshi said the expansion projects of Nalco’s captive power plant (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,” 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,” Joshi replied. Pradhan on January 4 had urged Joshi to expedite capacity expansion of Nalco’s smelter plant to 1 MTPA from the existing 0.46 MTPA. The company is undertaking this project which includes construction of a 1400- MW feeder CPP, he pointed out.
The cost of the project, which is presently at the land acquisition stage, is estimated at around Rs 22,000 crore, Pradhan said in the letter.