Power-to-telecom business house Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group
(R-ADAG) plans to enter cement manufacturing by setting up a plant near its
4,000MW coal-fired power project proposed at Sasan in east Madhya Pradesh.
The cement plant proposed by R-ADAG will use millions of tonnes of fly ash
generated at the power station, billed ultra mega power project for its
large capacity, to produce cement.

J.P. Chalasani, director, business development, Reliance Energy Ltd, said,
“Our company keeps on evaluating various proposals from time to time.”
Reliance Energy is the parent of Reliance Power Ltd, the company in charge
of the Sasan project.

Ultra mega power projects are expected to see a major expansion of cement
manufacturing capacity in India with cement companies such as Grasim
Industries Ltd, Ultratech Ltd, Sanghi Cement Ltd, The India Cements Ltd,
Zuari Cements Ltd and My Home Industries Ltd already evincing interest in
setting up greenfield cement plants in the vicinity of such power stations,
as reported by Mint on 26 September.

EN Murthy, secretary general of trade body Cement Manufacturers Association,
welcomed the capacity addition. “Around 60% of the cement produced in India
uses fly ash. In a situation of supply-side constraint, any additional
capacity is good news for the industry,” he said.

The government had planned nine ultra mega power projects. While those at
Sasan, Mundra in Gujarat, Tilaiya in Jharkhand, Krishnapattnam in Andhra
Pradesh, Tamil Nadu’s Cheyyur and Orissa’s Jharsuguda are on track, others
at Girye in Maharashtra, Tadri in Karnataka and Chhattisgarh’s Akaltara are
yet to take off. Sasan, Tilaiya and Jharsuguda are coal pithead projects and
those at Mundra, Krishnapattnam and Cheyyur are based on imported coal.