India NALCO's Indonesia aluminium plant faces delay

BHUBANESWAR, India, Aug 13 - India's state-run National Aluminium Co Ltd said on Thursday it faced a delay in building its Indonesian aluminium smelter even as rising aluminium prices have raised the urgency in starting it."We may delay construction because of procedural delay," NALCO's chairman C.R. Pradhan told Reuters.

The company is still examining several locations to set up the $4 billion project and is looking to get assured supply of coal, Pradhan said.The plant, conceived to produce 500,000 tones of aluminium using about 250 megawatts each from five power plants, was expected to commence construction in 2010, but the delay could cost it six months to one year, other officials in NALCO said."

The project is in very preliminary stage," another official involved with the plan but could not be named due to company policy, said."The plants may need 4.5-5 million tons of coal and that has to be ensured first," he said.NALCO is India's third largest aluminium maker that produced 361,262 tonnes of aluminium in 2008/09 that ended in March.

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