KOLKATA: National Aluminium Company (Nalco), the country’s largest public sector aluminum company, has entered into a joint venture with Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Limited (GACL) for setting up a caustic soda plant and a captive power plant at Dahej. The total investment in the project will be to the tune of Rs 1,789 crore. While Nalco will hold 40% equity in the project, the balance equity will be held by GACL.

The proposed caustic soda plant will be 2.7 lakh tonnes per annum, while the captive power plant will have a generation capacity of 100 MW, an official statement issued by Nalco said.

For Nalco, a navratna PSU under the ministry of mines the signing of a joint venture cum share holders’ agreement with GACL, a Gujarat government promoted company, is part of a backward integration initiative. While the alliance has been in the works for over two years, the two companies signed the agreement on Tuesday, June 23, 2015 at Nalco’s Corporate Office in Bhubaneswar.

On the occasion, N R Mohanty, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Nalco and A M Tiwari, MD of GACL, P K Mohanty, IAS, CVO, S C Padhy, Director (HR), K C Samal, Director (Finance), Soma Mondal, Director (Commercial), V Balasubramanyam, Director (Production) and other senior officials of NALCO and GACL were present.