Chhattisgarh govt clears way for aluminium park project in Korba district

The Chhattisgarh government recently cleared a major hurdle for setting up an aluminium park in Korba district, nearly a decade after the plan was conceptualised. 

 

The government has decided to hand over 105 hectares of land belonging to the Korba Thermal Power Station (KTPS) to the industries department, paving the way for the state’s first aluminium park. 

 

The KTPS was shut down in 2019 by the then-government due to high production and maintenance costs, environmental hazards, and general viability issues. Lakhan Lal Dewangan, state’s industry minister and Korba MLA, said: “The board of the Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company has approved the proposal to hand over the land of the shut down power plant to the industry department.”

 

The aluminium park project was conceptualised during the tenure of the Raman Singh government in 2015. 

 

The location has been selected to facilitate the availability of raw material from the Vedanta Limited-controlled Bharat Aluminium Company (Balco) facility in Korba. Earlier, the Chhattisgarh government had inked an agreement with Balco, in which the government of India has a 9 per cent stake, to supply raw aluminium at a subsidised rate to small-scale industries setting up at the park.

 

According to Dewangan, the location will lead to enhanced value addition and manufacturing, since alumina is produced in Balco’s smelter plant. “Many types of products can be made at one place. For this, local and outside industrialists will be interested in setting up plants in Korba,” he said, adding that the consumption of aluminium is increasing and is also being used in the construction of offices and buildings.

 

“Industries related to the manufacturing of these products are likely to come up in large numbers and set up units in the park,” Dewangan added.