ED RICHARDSON THE SOUTH African Development Corporation is banking on Canadian aluminium and packaging group Alcan deciding to go ahead with a $2,5bn smelter in the Coega industrial development zone in Eastern Cape. Industrial Development Corporation CEO Geoffrey Qhena told FTW recently he was confident Alcan would go ahead with the smelter given the progress made on the negotiation of an electricity tariff for it — one of the key issues in its decision to participate. The smelter project was taken over by Alcan, the world’s second biggest primary aluminium producer, when it bought French rival Pechiney in 2003.
