BHUBANESWAR: THE Indo-China standoff has had a telling effect on the coal gasification and urea manufacturing projects under execution by Talcher Fertilisers Ltd in Angul district. Work on the `13,277 crore Talcher project has been halted for ‘technical’ reasons shortly after the Centre took economic retaliation measures against China in the wake of the bloody border dispute. Talcher Fertilisers Ltd (TFL) awarded a lump sum turnkey (LSTK) contract to Wuhuan Engineering of China in September 2019 for implementing its coal gasification unit for production of ammonia and urea. The TFL is one of the five fertiliser plants in the country to be revived by the Centre.
With the Ministry of Fertilisers and Chemicals and the officials in charge of the project maintaining studied silence on the fate of the project, sources familiar with the development said the Chinese firm is unable to mobilise technical manpower and equipment for the project site due to lack of clearances from the Centre. “Only earth work has been completed. No major construction work is visible at the site,” the sources said adding, there is hope as the Centre has not cancelled the contract with the Chinese company as was expected.
While the Talcher project, first of its kind in India, to employ coal gasification technology for production of urea, is hanging fire, the gas-based fertiliser plant of Ramagundam Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited (RFCL) in Telangana has gone into trial production. The Talcher project will have a production capacity of 1.27 MTPA of neem-coated urea through gasification of a mixed feedstock comprising of high ash Indian coal and pet coke. The other three projects are located at Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh and Sindri in Jharkhand and Barauni in Bihar.
Laying the foundation stone of Talcher project in September 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised that it will be completed in 36 months and he will visit again to inaugurate the plant. It was scheduled to be commissioned by September 2023. Though the North Arkhapal coal block in Talcher region has been allotted to TFL, the project authority is yet to complete land acquisition for development of the captive mines. TFL, an unit of the Fertilizer Corporation of India Ltd, is promoted by Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers, CIL and GAIL.
Project details
Foundation stone laid in Sept, 2018
Scheduled to be commissioned by Sept,2023
Production capacity would be 1.27 MTPA of neem-coated urea
Technique to be used is gasification of a mixed feedstock comprising of high ash Indian coal and pet coke