By IANS
Raipur : Bharat Aluminium Company Limited (Balco), a member of Vedanta Resources plc, is set to become the largest aluminium producer in the world from a single location as it signed a pact with the Chhattisgarh government to set up a new smelter plant with an investment of Rs.80 billion ($ 2 billion).
The proposed plant with a capacity of 650,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) will come up in its existing complex in Korba district. It will take the company’s total aluminium output from 135,000 tpa to 1 million tpa – making it the largest aluminium producer in the world from a single location.
At a function held here late Wednesday, Additional Chief Secretary (Industries) P. Joy Oommen on behalf of the Chhattisgarh government and Balco’s chief executive officer Pramod Suri signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU).
Chief Minister Raman Singh and Vedanta chairman Anil Agrawal were present on the occasion.
The company also signed an agreement with the state government to set up a Vedanta Cancer Hospital and Research Centre near this state capital.
Company officials said the new smelter plant is part of Vedanta’s major expansion plan after it took over the management control of the firm in 2001 when the central government divested 51 percent stake of the state-run enterprise that was incorporated in 1965.
Vedanta Resources, the London-listed metals and mining major with aluminium, copper and zinc operations in Britain, India and Australia, expanded the production facility soon after the Balco takeover that saw the total aluminium output go up from 135,000 tpa to 350,000 tpa.