By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, February 15, 2016 : Anil Agarwal owned Vedanta Alumina Ltd [VAL] on Monday announced to set up an Aluminium Park in Jharsuguda in western Odisha.

The proposed aluminium park will be adjacent to Vedanta’s 1.6 million ton per annum [mtpa] smelter along with 3,600 MW of power generation facilities.

This is the second aluminium park proposal mooted after the state run aluminium major National Aluminium Company Ltd [NALCO] had proposed one at Angul, which, however, remained a non-starter.

VAL also inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Odisha government to set up the Park over 240 acres of land in Jharsuguda.

“The park has the potential to attract over Rs 1,000 crore of investment which can be operationalised within a relatively short time-frame,” Vedanta CEO (Aluminium) Abhijit Pati said.
The proposed park is expected to generate direct and indirect employment to about 17,000 people.

“With this kind of infrastructure, Odisha can become the aluminium hub of the world,” he remarked adding that the park would ensure easy transport of aluminium in liquid form, which would provide substantial cost savings for the downstream industries.

Besides, the move could attract a large number of aluminium-based industries generating huge revenues and employment in the region, the company said.

Odisha accounts for 55% of India’s deposits, but most of the deposits still remain unexplored and unutilized due to statutory and environmental roadblocks.

“Easy proximity to the domestic markets and the geographical advantage of a large coastline which gives quick access to ports and the export market make Odisha a favourable destination for downstream industries,” Pati said.

The state government has agreed to provide necessary infrastructure for setting up the industries with incentives in the form of land, electricity and others, the cost of which will be recovered from the investors who shall establish their units.