Odisha govt seeks Nalco support for Midal Cables unit at Angul

Reported by Chinmaya Dehury

Bhubaneswar, May 1:

The Odisha government has sought the confirmation of aluminium major Nalco for supply of hot metal to Midal Cables, Bahrain to operationalise the proposed downstream aluminium park, which will come up in Angul.

“A confirmation from Nalco for supply of hot metal to the units in the park and execution of metal supply contract with Midal cable has become inevitable at this juncture for operationalisation of the park. In this context, I would request your personal intervention for early disposal of the matter,” said Industry secretary Vishal Kumar Dev in a letter to Anshuman Das, CMD, Nalco.

Official sources said the Bahrain-based Midal Cables Limited had applied to the Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation Limited (Ipicol) to set up its Rs 300 crore downstream unit in the proposed park to produce aluminium cable and wire rods.

It will produce 60,000 metric tonnes of hot metal in the first year of operation. The plant will be commissioned within 18 months after handover of the land.

In September 2009, the state-owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) and public sector Navaratna company National Aluminium Company (Nalco) signed an MoU to set up the downstream aluminium park. Idco and Nalco also formed Angul Aluminium Park, a joint venture company, in July 2010 to implement the project.

“Idco has already aggregated more than 120 acres of land and is also implementing the external connectivity infrastructure to operationalise the park at the earliest. For the major prospective investments, the Idco has also done in-principle land allotments to Midal Cables for its wire rod unit and to Nalco for its JV project with PGCIL,” said the letter.

The requirement of land for the first phase of the park is 250 acres.