Dubai Aluminium plans RM8 billion smelter in Sarawak
UAE firm Dubai Aluminium Co Ltd said Friday it plans to set up an RM8 billion (US$2.1 billion) aluminium smelter in Sarawak as a springboard to Southeast Asian markets.
It said the smelter would utilise power from Sarawak's massive Bakun hydroelectric dam project, and expected to be operational in 2007 with a production capacity of up to 500,000 tonnes of aluminium ingots a year.
"Discussions have already started with Sarawak authorities on a suitable site, environmental impact assessment and the availability of infrastructure," the company said in a statement.
"From this location in Malaysia, the smelter's steel products will spearhead their expansion into the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta)."
Under Afta, tariffs on trade in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) would fall to between zero and five percent by 2003.
Dubai Aluminium said its project has to be timed for completion with the Bakun project due to the smelter's crucial requirement for uninterrupted power supply.
It said its visiting vice chairman Mohamed Ali Alabbar held talks with the finance ministry earlier Friday to obtain "assurances on the electricity supply tariff, guarantees on power supply and the expected completion date of the Bakun" project.
"Alabbar is expected to initial documents to proceed with applications for project approval once clarity on the Bakun hydroelectric project emerges," it added.
Size of Singapore
The multi-billion-dollar Bakun dam project was revived last year.
Construction of the 205-metre-high dam involves flooding an area the size of Singapore to create a generating capacity of 2,400 megawatts.
Environmentalists say the dam's capacity far exceeds future power needs.
The smelter project will be a boost to the Bakun dam, with a guaranteed consumption of 900 megawatts continously, officials said. — AFP
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