The construction of the gas-based Talcher Fertiliser Revival project will start in six months. Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) had recently given a go-ahead for the project.
This was announced by the Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Srikant Jena, at a public meeting here on Monday. He was here to inaugurate the site office of the Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF).
“The Centre, keeping in view the huge demand for urea in the country and
Rs 90,000- crore subsidy a year, has decided to turn around all the eight closed fertiliser plants in the country. Talcher plant will be gas-based and estimated to cost around Rs 8,000 crore.
It will run as a joint venture company comprising RCF, Coal India Limited (CIL) and the Fertiliser Corporation of India, in which the RCF will have a major stake,“ said Jena.
Jena said the BIFR’s final clearance is expected by June next year, but at the same time the process of reviving the plant using coal gasification technology would be initiated. The CIL will supply uninterrupted coal to the plant.
Jena said the tender floated for coal gasification will be opened in January next year and tenders for other projects like the urea plant will be invited shortly.
The urea plants at Ramagundam and Sindhri will also be revived under public sector partnership, he said, adding that the environment-friendly coal gasification technology will be adopted in the new plants.
The Union Minister regretted that agriculture had been neglected in the State in the recent years. He said the fertiliser plant will hardly come to the aid of the farmers if they face acute shortage of water. “Water from Hirakud and the Brahmani, meant for irrigation, are being diverted to industries,” he said.
He, however, refused to give a time frame for production of urea from the new plant.