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Nalco to buy 241 specialised rly wagons — To transport increased alumina output from Damonjodi

Santanu Sanyal

Bhubaneswar , Jan. 5

NATIONAL Aluminium Company (Nalco), the public sector aluminium major, having both mining and manufacturing facilities in Orissa, proposes to acquire an additional 241 specialised railway wagons, each of 55 tonnes capacity, to facilitate dedicated movement of additional quantities of alumina to be produced by the company's Damonjodi plant from end-2008/early 2009 as a sequel to capacity expansion programme currently in progress.

The production of alumina is estimated to increase by 5.25 lakh tonnes (lt) to 21 lt from 2008/2009 and with it will arise the need for transporting these additional quantities partly for exports through Visakhapatnam port and partly for Nalco's own use at its smelters at Angul.

About half-a-dozen wagon-builders are believed to have responded to the tender floated by the company in this regard and it will be a few more months before the selection is complete. "We still have time to finalise the selection," said a spokesman for Nalco.

The price of each wagon, still to be finalised as the price bids are yet to be opened, will be much higher than Nalco paid last time, it is felt. The prices of steel and other input costs have gone up many times since 2000 when Nalco paid a basic price of about Rs 20 lakh each wagon plus other levies. The suppliers had included public sector firms such as Burn Standard and Braithwaite.

Right now Nalco has 674 dedicated wagons for transporting alumina, for its own consumption at Angul and also for exports.

The bulk of the metal production for domestic consumption, however, is moved by road, while the metal exports almost entirely by rail.

While the alumina exports are routed entirely through Visakhapatnam port, the metal exports also through Paradip and Kolkata Dock System. However, the bulk of the metal exports is undertaken through the Visakhapatnam port.

In Paradip port, the company faces the problem of inadequate sailings by the shipping lines, while for shipments through KDS, Nalco has to negotiate with as many as four railway systems, East Coast Railway, South Eastern Railway, Eastern Railway and finally port railway, which often creates problems.

Nalco proposes to open a new stockyard at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh bringing the total number of stockyards to eight.

However, the ex-factory sale of metals continues to be more than that through stockyards.

Asked if the stockyard sale would increase now that there would be more stockyards, the spokesman replied that would depend on the Government's fiscal incentives.

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