Nalco to commission second 120 MW unit in Angul soon

Jayanta Mallick

Kolkata, Aug. 8

National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) will commission its second 120 MW power unit in Angul this month.

Mr B.L. Bagra, Director (Finance) of Nalco, told Business Line that the unit would start generation later this month. It is part of Nalco's phase-II expansion in Orissa.

The first unit (of 120 MW capacity) became operational in October 2009.

Refinery expansion delay

However, the refinery capacity expansion of 5.25 ltpa at Damanjodi in Koraput has been delayed by two years and is expected to be commissioned in January.

“But this delay may marginally add to the project cost as all the equipment have been received. The installations would follow the completion of the civil construction and structural works, which constitute 20 per cent of the project cost. The delay was caused by contractors and naxalite attacks at the site,” he explained.

Production

Nalco has achieved the highest-ever metal production of 4.31 lakh tonnes in 2009-10 against the previous best of 3.61 lakh tonnes in 2008-09, up 14.4 per cent.

The company also achieved a record production of 15.92 lakh tonnes (15.77 lakh tonnes) of alumina hydrate and capacity utilisation of 101.05 per cent. This was made possible by the partial capacity expansion last year. The higher power production was in spite of the severe coal shortage. Mr Bagra said the coal linkage with Mahanadi Coalfields could provide only 50 per cent of the requirement.

“The balance was met through imports and e-auction, which raised the cost of coal by 10 per cent,” he added. As Nalco owns its railway infrastructure for coal supply, cost on that score could be kept under control.

Coal mining

Meanwhile, the company has received environmental clearances for its proposed extraction project of Utkal E. coal block in Angul with an estimated deposit of 70 million tonnes.

“The land acquisition and rehabilitation work in the project area covering three revenue villages is expected to start in one month. Public hearing by local collector has already taken place,” the Nalco Director said.

Meanwhile, the Nalco board has proposed a final dividend of 10 per cent for 2009-10. It earlier declared 15 per cent interim. The board would take on record first quarter results on August 14.