Vedanta seeks 1,200 acres more for Bengal plant

Vedanta Aluminium, a subsidiary of London Stock Exchange-listed Vedanta Resources, would seek an additional 1,200 acres from the West Bengal government for its proposed greenfield plant in the state. A Vedanta official said that the company had 200 acres under its possession at Bidhanbag in Asansol region. "We require another 1,000-1,200 acres. The government will facilitate in giving us the land," he said. Vedanta Aluminium was in the process of setting up an alumina plant with a capacity of 6.5 lakh tonnes and a 1,500 MW power plant in the state in the first phase. In the second phase, the alumina production capacity would be ramped up to 1 million tonnes and power generation capacity would also be augmented by another 1,500 MW. The total investment for the project was around Rs 25,000 crore. Vedanta was also setting up a similar greenfield facility at Jharsuguda in Orissa, where the alumina smelter capacity would be 2 million tonnes annually. In the first phase of the West Bengal project, the fund requirement would be around Rs 14,000 crore. Asked whether the ongoing credit crisis would affect fund raising by the company, the official said that there was no dearth of funds. Vedanta Resources, the holding company, had $5 billion cash reserves in hand. Besides, the company was also talking to banks for arranging finance for the project. The official said that the first phase would be ready by 2011, adding that there would be no time overrun for the project. He said that the project would give direct employment to 1,000 people. Source: business-standard