Iran aims to three-fold its aluminum production by 2025. As aluminum is an energy-consuming industry, one of the key factors is where to build the plants. To promote investments, the Ministry of Industry plans constructing dedicated industrial parks.
“The goal for aluminum industry is to increase the annual production to 1.5 million tons by 2025”, said Dr. Mehdi Karbasian, CEO of Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO), in May 2016, explaining the long-term goals of the Ministry of Industries and Mining.
In order to realize this goal, from the current production capacity of 470 thousand tons, Iran needs $10b of investments in all aluminum related industries, in both up-and downstream production.
To facilitate the path, Ministry of Industry has recently assigned 300 hectares of land with all the required infrastructure near the South Aluminum Project –an upstream project-, in the Lamard Special Economic Zone. By developing the aluminum downstream plants, IMIDRO hopes to complete added-value chain and maximize profitability in this sector.
“Due to access to water, electricity, natural gas and other essential infrastructure for large scale projects in Lamard Special Economic Zone, as well as other advantages such as access to main roads and cheap energy resources, the area is ready to lead the region in energy-consuming industries”, said Seyyed Abolhassan Haghayeghi, CEO of Lamard Special Economic Zone.
Therefore, the construction of a complete aluminum complex including downstream plants has been planned which allows for the purchase of molten aluminum alongside aluminum ingots. The first phase of South Aluminum Complex is expected to be inaugurated in 2019 with an initial funding of $1.2b which will directly employ 5000 people.
Lamard Special Economic Zone is located in the south of Fars province and 6 km away from the city of Lamard. The region is 43 km away from the Parsian port and pier following a freeway which both are under construction.
The expected industries in this area are aluminum and its downstream industries, cement, magnesium, petro-chemistry, combined cycle power plant and steel downstream industries.
Source: IMIDRO Official Announcement
