Aluminium demand to grow to  10 MT: Tomar

BHUBANESWAR:  Projecting the aluminium demand in the country to grow to 10 million tonnes (MT) by 2030 from the current 3.4 million tonnes, Union Minister for Mines Narendra Singh Tomar said the Centre is taking all possible measures to develop the aluminium sector to meet increasing need for the metal.As the utility of aluminium has expanded from use for transport applications to the making of spaceship, Tomar said the per capita aluminium consumption is expected to grow from 2.5 kg to 5 kg by 2030. Transportation segment will contribute significantly to total aluminium consumption.

Addressing the valedictory session of the three-day International Conference on Aluminium (INCAL) here on Saturday, the Union Minister said the NDA Government under leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had done its best to address the problems faced by the mining and metal industries of the country. 
In specific reference to the Navaratna PSU Nalco, Tomar said the challenges faced by the company in getting bauxite and coal blocks have been resolved. Now efforts are on to develop the sector further to maintain the country’s competitive edge in the international market and create additional job opportunities in the downstream sectors.

Asserting that mining industries in the country are free from corruption after the BJP-led NDA Government came to power, he said 53 mineral blocks of the country have been auctioned and another 100 have been lined up for e-auctioning. As the lease period of more than 300 mines will expire by 2020, the process of auctioning will be completed well before the lapses of lease.

The 53 blocks having mineral value of over `2.25 crore have earned Odisha an additional revenue of `1.43 crore as auction premium. Besides, `23,606 crore has been collected in the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) in all the districts affected by mining for the welfare of people and development of area affected by mining.

Though Tomar parried a question on poor utilisation of DMF funds in Odisha as pointed out by the Prime Minister during his recent visit to the State, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said only a fraction of the `5,000 crore DMF fund has been utilised due to inefficiency of the State Government.Describing Odisha as the pit head cheap energy, abundant raw materials and skilled manpower, Pradhan said ease of doing business in the State is altogether a different experience. He appealed delegates from across the country and abroad to grab the opportunity by investing in the State.

Responding to a query, Pradhan said delay development of coal mining is hitting production target in the State. He blamed State Government for the delay in handing over land for the coal projects.Chairman of INCAL and Nalco CMD Tapan Chand and Chairman of Odisha Skill Development Authority Subroto Bagchi also spoke.