Nalco aluminium park mired in uncertainty

The proposed aluminium park of the public sector metal major, National Aluminium Company (Nalco) at Angul in Orissa has run into uncertainty with the state government unwilling to join the project as a joint venture partner.

Though the project was initially conceived as a JV between Nalco and the state owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa (Idco), the state government now wants the company to set up the aluminium park on its own, said the sources.

To coerce the company to agree to the proposal of taking up the full responsibility of developing the property, the state government even put this as an informal condition for approval of the company’s proposal to set up a Rs 16,345 crore greenfield integrated aluminium project at Jharsuguda by the State Level Single Window Clearance Authority, they added.

“We are not as much concerned about the financial implication of the prospect of the state government pulling out of the JV as we are concerned about its impact on land acquisition, rehabilitation and liability of providing jobs to the project affected people”, pointed out a senior official of Nalco.

“We do not want any funding from the state government, but its participation in the JV will considerably lower the pressure on us to provide jobs to the locals”, he said and added, “as we will be just playing the role of developers of the property, we will hardly have any control over the scope of employment by the units to be located within the aluminium park”.

The project envisaged setting up a complex for aluminium ancillary and downstream industries over an area of 200 acres.

The developer is required to develop the land and provide necessary infrastructure facilities for smooth operation of the units whose cost is estimated at Rs 50 crore. The aluminium park, once fully developed, is expected to attract investment of Rs 300 to 400 crore.

The company sources, however, said discussions are on to thrash out the contentious issues and retain the state government as a JV partner in the project.

“We are ready to join Nalco as a JV partner in the aluminium park venture and discussions are on to finalise the terms and conditions of the project including its share holding pattern”, said Hemant Sharma, director of Industries, Orissa government, responding to a query whether the government intended to pull out of the project. Explaining the delay in setting up of the project which was conceived about two years back, a senior officer of Idco said, Nalco was not keen to take it forward pending the grant of lease for Patangi bauxite mines in its favour.