The Hindu Business Line : DUBAL, L&T to set up Rs 15,000-cr refinery

Mr Ahmad Humaid Altayer, Vice-Chairman of DUBAL (right), walking ahead of Mr A.M. Naik, Chairman & Managing Director of L&T (left), and Mr Ahmad Fikree, General Manager, Marketing and Sales of DUBAL, after a press conference in Bhubaneswar on Thursday. — Ashoke Chakrabarty

Bhubaneswar , Sept. 22

LARSEN & Toubro Ltd (L&T) and Dubai Aluminium Company Ltd (DUBAL) of the United Arab Emirates, will jointly set up a 3-million-tonnes-per-annum capacity alumina refinery in Rayagada district of Orissa.

The Rs 15,000-crore integrated project comprises the alumina refinery, smelter, bauxite mining and development of associated infrastructure, a township and related utilities. The details of the project was discussed at a high level meeting between the Orissa Chief Minister, Mr Naveen Patnaik, and the Chairman-cum-Managing Director of L&T, Mr A.M. Naik here on Thursday.

The Vice-Chairman of DUBAL, Ahmed Humaid Al Tayer, also attended the meeting.

Talking to presspersons after the meeting, Mr Naik and Mr Tayer said that a joint venture company named Raykal Aluminium Company Ltd has already been registered in Bhubaneswar to implement the project.

DUBAL will have an equity of 74 per cent and L&T 26 per cent.

The first phase of 1.5-million tonnes alumina stream is expected to be commissioned in 2010. The bauxite mines for the project is located at Kutrumali and Sijimali hills.

A 10-km long overhead conveyor will transport bauxite from the mines to the refinery site, and the power requirements will be met by a 60 MW captive co-generation plant.

The second phase of doubling the alumina refinery's capacity to 3 million tonnes has been envisaged along with the construction of an aluminium smelter utilising DUBAL's own technology and expertise.

Work on the second stream will start in 2008, they said. Mr Tayer said that DUBAL's involvement in the alumina refinery project will be the largest foreign direct investment in India from the West Asia.

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