Vedanta Alumina, part of the Vedanta Resources (Sterlite) group, has begun pre-project work on its proposed greenfield aluminium smelter in Orissa.

The company has invited expressions of interest for civil work, infrastructure (building, roads, drainage, sewerage systems, boundary wall, etc.) and area grading of around 350 ha.

Vedanta Alumina, in February 2005, had first proposed to set up a greenfield aluminium smelter in Orissa that would use alumina from its upcoming 1.4 million tpa alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district of Orissa.

The proposed Rs.7,000 crore ($1.6 billion) smelter coming up at Bhurkhumunda in Jharsuguda district would have capacity of 5 lakh tpa and would be supported by a 1,000 MW captive power plant. As of today, this would be largest aluminium smelter in India, surpassing the upcoming 4.6 lakh tpa smelter of National Aluminium Co, also in Orissa.

Vedanta's smelter is likely to come up in five years, in two phases. In Phase I, targeted for completion within three years, capacity of 2.5 lakh tpa would be created. This would be followed by Phase II that would take smelting capacity to 5 lakh tpa.

Meanwhile, the 1.4 million tpa Lanjigarh alumina refinery is progressing as per schedule and is likely to be commissioned by March 2007.