KOLKATA: National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco), a navratna PSU under the ministry of mines and Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Limited (GACL), a Gujarat government promoted company, have formed a joint venture to set up a Rs 1800-crore caustic soda plant.

Nalco holds 40% share capital in the new joint venture company, GACL-Nalco Alkalies & Chemicals Private Limited, while GACL holds the rest. The venture plans to produce 2.7 lakh tonnes of caustic soda per annum. The land transfer and ordering of plant equipment are in the final stages. The office of the new company was also inaugurated on Tuesday in Baroda.

Tapan Kumar Chand, CMD, Nalco, laid the foundation-stone of the proposed plant, after bhumi puja at Dahej in Gujarat today in the presence of A M Tiwari, IAS, additional chief secretary and MD, GACL, N R Mohanty, director(P&T), Nalco, P K Mohanty, IAS, CVO, Nalco and senior officials of both the companies and govt. of Gujarat.

“As a backward integration plan of NALCO, the project is expected to be a highly profitable venture for us. NALCO shall purchase at least 50,000 tonnes of caustic soda per year to start with, at market price,” Chand said. It may be mentioned here that the availability of caustic soda in India is very low and the major part of the domestic requirement is met at a high cost. The venture will lead to import substitution of caustic soda in domestic market.

NALCO is also in the process of setting up a 0.5 million tonnes per annum Alumina Refinery in Kutch district of Gujarat in joint venture with Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC), a govt. of Gujarat undertaking for which a detailed project report (DPR) has been prepared.