Govt, Nalco in pact

National Aluminium Company (NALCO), India’s largest producer and exporter of alumina and aluminium, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Union ministry of mines, setting various performance targets for the company during 2010-11.

In the MoU, NALCO has projected 100 per cent capacity untilization of its aluminium smelter to produce 4.6 lakh tonnes of metal and 16.58 lakh tonnes of alumina from its refinery. The company has also projected to produce 7715 million unit of power at 85 per cent PLF (plant load factor) from its 1200 MW Captive Power Plant at Angul. Besides, the company has assured to achieve higher financial targets and complete its on-going 2nd phase expansion projects in time.

The chairman and managing director of Nalco, A.K. Srivastava signed the MoU with Union mines secretary, Santha Sheela Nair in New Delhi yesterday in the presence of Sundeep Kumar Nayak, joint secretary, ministry of mines, B.L. Bagra, director (finance) and other senior officials of the ministry and the company.

Among other things, NALCO has agreed to focus on completing the various targets of Utkal–E coal block for coal production by June 2012, Aluminium Park in Angul in joint venture with Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa (IDCO), greenfield smelter abroad and development of recently allotted bauxite deposits in Andhra Pradesh for setting up a mines and alumina project at a cost of Rs.6000 crore.

For the first time, special weightage has been given in the MoU to sustainable development which includes tree plantation and wind farm development. Besides, special imphasis has also been laid on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) with focus on SA8000, health camps in periphery villages and enhanced allocation for peripheral development activities.