The Hindu Business Line : Orient Paper proposes Rs 210 cr investments

ORIENT Paper has chalked out a plan that entails a total investment of Rs 210 crore, including the installation of a 30-MW power plant and capacity expansion at its cement and paper units.

Mr M.L. Pachisia, Managing Director, told Business Line that the power plant would be set up at Devapur in Andhra Pradesh to serve the cement unit there.

"The plant is expected to generate a power cost saving of at least Rs 30 crore a year or Rs 100 per tonne of cement. The Rs 120-crore power unit is being designed so that it can run on a mix of coal and alternative fuels," he added.

The company has already hired an engineering firm to prepare the turnkey project blueprint, which is expected by May next.

The company has moved the Centre for a coal linkage with Singereni Collieries.

The unit is scheduled to be commissioned by April 2008.

The Devapur cement unit's capacity is also being raised to by six lakh tonnes to three million tonnes per annum at a cost of Rs 35 crore. The additional capacity will be operational from December 2006.

Tissue paper capacity hike: Orient's paper unit at Amlai in Madhya Pradesh will witness a 200 per cent hike in tissue paper manufacturing capacity at a cost of Rs 55 crore.

The unit currently produces 10,000 tonnes per annum (tpa). The expanded capacity, which is planned to be installed by April 2008, will be 30,000 tpa.

The company has also increased plantation of eucalyptus trees in the State to one crore a year through social forestry and secured raw material sourcing for the paper plant, which also produces 75,000 tpa of writing and printing paper.

Orissa assets sale: The financing methodology of the three projects will be ready by May 2006. Mr Pachisia said that the closed paper unit assets at Brajrajnagar in Orissa are being readied for eventual sale after the legal obligations are gone through. It has, among other things, 800 acres of industrial land, 2,500 housing units, work sheds, and railway sidings.

An internal valuation suggests the property to be worth around Rs 100 crore.

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