AgriNation News Network

New Delhi. 16 March 2018

Revival of shutdown fertilizer PSU plants will soon see the light of the day. The government is close to hiring project developers to build new fertilizer production units. The construction work of the fertilizer plants in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Odisha will be assigned on a turnkey basis and are expected to be completed in 36 months, said a ministry sources.

The plants at Sindri, Gorakhpur and Barauni of 1.2 million tonnes each will operate under Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan Ltd (HURL), a joint venture of Coal India Ltd, NTPC Ltd, Indian Oil Corp. Ltd, Fertilizer Corp. of India Ltd (FCIL) and Hindustan Fertilizer Corp. Ltd (HFCL).

A fourth plant of similar capacity being built at Talcher by a consortium of Engineers India Ltd (EIL) and National Fertilizers Ltd and FCIL will use coal-gasification technology. All the projects have been given required pre-approval clearances including on environment impact and are expected to be completed by 2021.

Work on a fifth new plant of 1.2 million tonnes at Ramagundam in Andhra Pradesh, is already on and it is expected to be completed by December 2018, said the person quoted above.

The government also wants to step up urea production. The five new units along with private sector capacity coming up are likely to boost urea production capacity from 25 million tonne at present to 34 million tonne by 2021-22, according to government estimates.

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