$24 MILLION FABRICATION CONTRACT AWARDED

India’s leading industrial construction group, Hindustan Construction Company Limited (Mumbai), has secured a $24 million order to fabricate 362 pot shells for a greenfield smelting facility being developed by Hindalco Industries Limited (Mumbai). The fabrication of pot shells requires high precision engineering and quality control in order to ensure low tolerance limits. Execution of the contract is expected to take about 19 months.

Hindalco, a fully owned subsidiary of the Aditya Birla Group (Mumbai), is setting up a smelting facility in Lapanga, Orissa. This project is part of an integrated complex, which will consist of a 1.5 million-ton-per-year alumina facility, a 4.2 million-ton-per-year bauxite ore mine, and a 395,000-ton-per-year smelting facility. After three years of operations, the refinery is expected to reach a production capacity of 2 million tons per year. The project will also include a 900 MW power plant at Lapanga and development of the Talbira I and II coal mines in Orissa. While project clearances have been obtained, land acquisition is in the final stages. The refinery is estimated to begin operations by 2013, while the smelting facility is likely to be commissioned in October 2011.

Hindalco is also developing other projects in Orissa and Jharkhand. The company’s Mahan aluminum project, which also consists of a 359,000-ton-per-year smelting facility and a 900-MW power plant, is expected to start production by July 2011. The 1.5 million-ton-per-year Utkal alumina project in Rayagada, Orissa, has also received environmental clearance. Smelting is likely to begin in July 2011. The 359,000-ton-per-year smelting unit in Sonahatu, Jharkhand, is estimated to be commissioned by June 2013.

HCC is one of India’s leading large-scale construction conglomerates. The group’s business interests include development of nuclear power plants, transportation, and water solutions, as well as engineering, procurement and construction services.

In a recent development, HCC secured a letter of acceptance from Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL) (New Delhi), a subsidiary of the Oil Industry Development Board (New Delhi), to construct underground oil storage caverns and allied civil work at Padur in Karnataka. The contract for the project, with a capacity of 1.2 million tons of crude oil, is estimated to be about $81.7 million. ISPRL’s first underground cavern will be located in Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.