Bhubaneswar, Sept. 30: National Aluminum Company Limited (Nalco), a Navaratna public sector undertaking (PSU), may explore the possibility of setting up its second aluminium smelter plant outside Orissa because it has been unable to find suitable land in the state.

“Considering the uncertainty on the location of the proposed project in Orissa, the company may have to explore another location elsewhere in the country,” said Nalco’s chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) B.L. Bagra.

The selection of a site depends on the availability of water, coal and bauxite in the vicinity. The company has not been able to get the required land for its second plant. It had zeroed in on areas in Samabalpur and Sundergarh districts where the project could be viable with easy access to water and coal. However, the state government is not in favour of setting up of another alumina plant in the Jharusguda industrial belt because it is already crowded with such plants.

Reacting to the CMD’s statement, industries minister Raghunath Mohanty told The Telegraph: “We are cooperating with Nalco. They will get land but procedures will have to be followed.”

Bagra also said: “Nalco, along with the Nuclear Power Corporation, will develop Kakarapar Atomic Power Station-3 and 4 projects in Gujarat. The company’s proposal is being considered by the central government.”

Speaking on the company’s annual performance, he said it had placed orders to set up a 50.4 MW wind power plant in Andhra Pradesh. “The plant is expected to be commissioned by February 2012. Establishment of the wind power plant will partially meet the company’s obligation to source power from renewable sources of energy as mandated by National Action Plan for Climate Change,” he said.

The company is also actively pursuing to set up a smelter and power project in Indonesia.

“Two coal mining firms have been identified for possible long-term arrangement for sourcing coal for the proposed project,” he said.

Bagra said during the last financial year, the company made a profit of Rs 1,069 crore against Rs 814 crore in the previous year. The sales revenue of Rs 5,959 crore was higher than the previous fiscal by 18 per cent.

The company, he said, had approved a total dividend payout of Rs 257.72 crore, which includes the final dividend of Rs 0.50 per equity share capital i.e. 10 per cent on face value of Rs 5 each. This is in addition to interim dividend of Rs 2 per equity share. Since its inception, Nalco has paid Rs 3,940 crore as dividend.