Proposals for investment of Rs. 10,000 cr approved in 100 days: Kumar.

With the aim of making India self-sufficient in urea production, the Fertiliser Ministry has approved proposals for investment of about Rs. 10,000 crore to revive the State-owned closed urea plants.

Besides, the Government is working on setting up a new urea-ammonia plant at the State-run Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation's (BVFCL) existing facility in Assam. Plans for reviving another closed plant in Sindri are also in advanced stages.

'In the last 100 days we have approved proposals for reviving closed urea plants in Talcher and Ramagundam with investment of about Rs. 10,000 crore, while plans for reviving the Sindri plant are in advanced stages,' Fertiliser Minister Ananth Kumar told PTI.

This approval could be the first major investment in the fertiliser sector in almost a decade during which period no new fertiliser plant has been set up in the country.

The Minister added that the Fertiliser Ministry has held two rounds of meetings with the Petroleum Ministry on the issue of the Jagdishpur-Haldia gas pipeline.

'... to realise the grand vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to generate employment for our youth, I have already held two rounds of meetings with the Petroleum Minister on the issue of the Jagdishpur-Haldia gas pipeline,' Kumar said.

Kumar said once the gas pipeline project becomes operational it would generate enormous employment and business opportunities in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

'Urea units in Gorakhpur, Haldia, Barauni and Durgapur can also be revived as gas is the feedstock required for the production of urea. And one can easily imagine there will be plenty of employment opportunities in these regions,' the Minister said

At present, eight State-owned fertiliser plants are closed, of which three closed units of Hindustan Fertiliser Corporation Ltd (HFCLl) are at Barauni, Durgapur and Haldia. The remaining five, of Fertiliser Corporation of India Ltd (FCIL), are at Sindri, Ramagundam, Talcher, Gorakhpur and Korba.

The Fertiliser Ministry is also taking initiatives for approval for a new efficient plant of a capacity of 8.64 lakh tonnes per annum (LMPA) for BVFCL in Assam.

With the new plant, the Ministry aims to achieve higher production from the same 1.72 mmscmd quantity of gas from Oil India Ltd (OIL), from which now only 3.5 lakh million tonnes are being produced.


HBL