Calcutta, Dec. 16: Anil Agarwal-owned London-based metal giant, Vedanta Resources Plc has lined up a $2.1-billion aluminium smelter plant and a power project in Orissa.

The project will be set up in phases over a span of five years. In the first phase, a smelter plant with a capacity of 250,000 tonnes will be set up and it will be completed by the second half of 2009.

Construction work for the first phase will commence in June. The work for the second phase will start subsequently and will be completed by 2010.

Once the project goes on steam, Vedanta’s aluminium smelting capacity will increase to 900,000 tonnes.

The fund for the project will come from internal accruals and external borrowings. “We are not looking at any equity offering at this point of time,” a Vedanta official said.

Vedanta’s in-house project management team, which had implemented its the Korba smelter project, will set up the new Jharsuguda project, too.

A thermal power plant will be constructed to cater to the smelter project. The project will have nine units of 135 mega-watt each. Out of them, five units will be commissioned in the first phase itself.

Vedanta is also setting up a $800-million alumina refinery in Orissa. The refinery, with a capacity of 1-1.4 mt, will be located about 300 km away to supply the feed for the smelter. It will commence operation in early 2007.

Vedanta Resource is a diversified metal and mining group dealing in aluminium, copper, zinc and lead. It has operations in India, Zambia and Australia.