Chhattisgarh govt decides to revive aluminium park project in Korba

The Chhattisgarh government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to revive an aluminum park proposal originally mooted in 2021 to promote small-scale industries in Korba, about 250 kilometres from here.

The Chhattisgarh government had entered an agreement with Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd (BALCO), a subsidiary of Vedanta Limited to supply raw aluminum to small-scale industries at a subsidised rate.

BALCO, in which the Indian government has a 49 per cent stake, can produce 570,000 tonnes of aluminium. After taking over the control with a 51 per cent stake in 2001, Vedanta Limited has planned to enhance the capacity to 1 million tonnes per annum. The state government eyes to explore the opportunity and plans to set up an aluminum park. Under the proposal, about 140 hectares of land was required. The plan was soon put on the back burner.

The BJP government led by Raman Singh removed the dust from the files in 2015 and asked the district administration to identify land for the project. The authorities selected it in Rukhbahari village near BALCO township and even held a gram sabha to take the consent of villagers for the project, a senior official in Korba district administration said. However, the proposal was again put on hold.

The newly-elected Korba legislator, Lakhanlal Dewangan, took the initiative to revive the plan. It has created a ray of hope that the project will now see the light of the day. “An initial provision of Rs 5 crore has been made in the budget proposal of the industry department for the financial year 2024-25 to meet the much-awaited demand of Aluminum Park in Korba district,” Dewangan said.

He said the process will start soon and the government will ensure that the project is executed at the earliest.

“Aluminum is produced in BALCO's smelter plant and with the construction of Aluminum Park, aluminum products will be manufactured in Korba itself,” Dewangan said, adding that many types of products can be made in one place.

The proposal will also induce huge investment in Korba, the industrial hub of Chhattisgarh, as local and outside industrialists will be interested in setting up plants, he said.