Nalco may delay project

India's state-run National Aluminum Company (Nalco) may postpone its power plant construction from its initial plan of next year as it has yet to secure a coal supply concession.

"Yes, there may be a delay [to the start of Nalco's project because] as, up to now, it hasn't [secured a coal supply concession]. A few [mining] companies are being gathered, but the amount [of their coal yields] is still insufficient," the industry ministry’s metal industry director, I Gusti Putu Suryawirawan said Tuesday at the ministry.

"However, we'll keep trying to be on schedule."

He said Nalco had planned to commence construction in 2010 and had estimated the project would take one year.

Putu said Nalco planned to set up five coal-fired power plants, each generating 250 megawatts, for its US$3 billion aluminum smelter in South Sumatra that would produce up to 500,000 tons of aluminum ingots annually.

The power plants may require more than 5 million tons of coal, he said.