DUBAI - Dubai Aluminium Company Limited (Dubal) said it was negotiating with the government and other private companies to acquire a stake in a RM8 billion smelter to be set up in Sarawak.

The project to be built near the port city of Bintulu will have an initial capacity of 250,000 tonnes per annum which would increase in stages.

"We are convinced that this is a strong project and offers Dubal a strategic position in the fast growing Asean markets," said Dubal vice-chairperson Mohammad Ali Alabbar in a statement.

"The final decision on Dubal's participation in the project will be taken by the company board after reviewing the findings of the feasibility study and studying the potential return on investment that it offers."

Partners

Partners in the smelter project will be the Malaysian government, the state of Sarawak and other private Malaysian companies as well as overseas companies such as Dubal, according to the statement.

The smelter is expected to become operational in 2007.

"It will spearhead Dubal's strong entry into the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta).

This is particularly significant as tariffs on trade in Asean are expected to fall to between zero and five per cent by 2003," Alabbar said.

One of the Middle East top producers, Dubal is undertaking a major upgrade to boost capacity by an additional 174,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) and bring total capacity to 710,000 tpa by 2006.

Dubal, the single largest non-oil industrial enterprise in the United Arab Emirates, employs more than 2,700 skilled people. AFP