VIJAYAWADA: A team of Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) officials has left for London to present arguments at a court in the upcoming hearing of a case with regard to the international arbitration raised by Ras-Al-Khaimah Investment Authority (RAKIA) over the cancellation of the bauxite supply agreement between the APMDC and ANRAK Aluminium Ltd.
Sources said the State government is likely to inform the court that it is ready to allow operations of the aluminium plant in Visakhapatnam if bauxite is transported from Odisha.They added APMDC vice-chairman and managing director VG Venkat Reddy is among the officials who will attend the hearing scheduled for September 27. The officials are likely to present the argument that they are not against the operations of the aluminium refinery in AP, but only that the bauxite mining cannot be allowed, the source said.
The outcome of the arbitration also depends on the version of the Union government, the sources said. “As the compensation will be in hundreds of crores of rupees, we hope that the Centre and the State government try to put effective arguments for resolving the issues,” the sources said, adding the hearing on September 27 is not final.
RAKIA and Penna Group had jointly set up an alumina refinery near Makavarapalem in Vizag agency based on an MoU signed with APMDC to get bauxite from the agency area. However, with the State cancelling the agreement after deciding to ban bauxite mining in the agency, RAKIA went for international arbitration seeking compensation.