Nova plant to go on stream in 2010

 

Work on the Dh3-billion aluminium processing plant, being set up by Dubai-based Darvesh Group, will commence by July next year, a senior company official said.

 
“The first phase will cost us Dh1.1bn. We have placed orders for machinery and will get land possession by July next year,” Darvesh Group Director Ahsan Hassan Darvesh told Emirates Business.

 

Nova Aluminium, which is being set up in Dubai Industrial City, will go on stream in 2010 with a production capacity of 135,000 tonnes per year.

The plant will source raw aluminium from Gulf-based companies such as Emal, Dubal and Alba, and make finished goods for the construction, pharmaceutical and packaging industries.

According to a Global Investment House report, the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) region is gaining ground when it comes to attracting aluminum producers due to abundant energy resources.

The price of natural gas has risen substantially for smelters worldwide over the past four years, which is making many European and American aluminum plants unprofitable. Moreover, securing constant gas supplies is a big question for them.

“The world will require a smelter of the size of Emal every year for at least another decade,” Duncan Hedditch, Chief Executive Officer, Emal, told Emirates Business earlier.

Emal, being constructed in Abu Dhabi, will have a total production capacity of 1.4m tonnes per year.

The installed capacity of aluminum producers in the GCC will exceed 4.5 million tonnes by 2012, when the new smelters are commissioned across the region, rough estimates suggest.

Gulf Extrusions Company, a Dubai-based aluminium extruder, is also planning to increase its production capacity to 55,000 tonnes per annum by year-end from current 30,000 tonnes. It is planning to set up manufacturing facilities overseas.

“We have invested Dh120 million to expand our production capacity to 55,000 tonnes per year this year. We are considering starting manufacturing units in India or Egypt,” said Saeed Saif Al Ghurair, Managing Director, Gulf Extrusions.