Larsen & Toubro has entered into an understanding with a Dubai Aluminium (Dubal) to set up an integrated bauxite mining and alumina refinery in Orissa, at an estimated cost of Rs.5,000 crore. The project will come up as a joint venture between Dubal being the majority partner with 74 per cent stake. 

The project involves setting up of a 1.4 million tpa alumina refinery with bauxite mining facilities and associated infrastructure like captive power plant, port facility, township and other utilities. The project is targeted for completion by 2009.

L&T already has bauxite mining rights in Orissa, thanks to its proposed alumina venture in the mid-1990s. The engineering major is also engaged in the Dhamra Port development project in association with Tata Steel.

The project would also give L&T's engineering and construction division an opportunity to execute a project valued at Rs.3,000 crore.

The project will have a provision of doubling of alumina refining capacity to 2.8 million tpa and setting up of an aluminium smelter using Dubal's indigenous technology. 

It may be mentioned that Vedanta Alumina (part of the Sterlite Group) is already executing a 1.4 million tpa alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district of Orissa.