“West Bengal was in the forefront of manufacturing aluminium after Independence and we want to go back to that position,” said Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who was present at the signing ceremony.

“I want lots of employment opportunities to be generated so that our children can get jobs,” he added.

The group will be reviving the defunct aluminium-manufacturing unit that it took over from the government-owned West Bengal Aluminium Corporation.

The 1,000-acre complex will be set up with an investment of Rs 20,000 crore and will take three years to complete once the work begins. The state-of-the art factory will produce 6.5 lakh tonne of aluminium per annum and will provide direct employment to 2,000 people.

A captive power plant with a capacity of 3,000 MW will also be part of the complex.

It already has 250 acres of land, which was part of the WBAC’s defunct unit, and has to acquire 750 acres of more land.