NEW DELHI: The government has rolled out a plan to make the country self-sufficient in fertilizers in the next 3-4 years and has roped in cash-rich public sector energy companies to revive five fertilizer plants at an investment of Rs 30,000 crore.
"We have taken a two-pronged strategy to end dependence on (fertilizer) imports. One is to raise efficiency of urea through neem-coating, which is expected to reduce consumption by 10%, or 32 lakh tonne per year. Two, we are restarting closed fertilizer plants, which will add 75 lakh tonne per year production," chemicals and fertilizers minister Ananth Kumar said on Thursday.
Kumar made the statement after reviewing with power minister Piyush Goyal and oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan the progress of the plan to restart the fertiliser plants at Barauni in Bihar, Sindri in Jharkhand, Talcher in Odisha, Ramagundam in Telengana and Gorakhpur in UP.
Pradhan said the PM will lay the foundation for revival of the plants and work will start after monsoon. "For the PM, revival of these plants is not about scoring political points. He has taken it as a challenge and we are working to complete the task. Revival work is progressing apace and the pants will come on stream by 2020-21. "
According to Kumar's maths, the strategy will not only make the country self-sufficient in fertilisers, it may leave some surplus too. The Centre has roped in Coal India Ltd, NTPC, IndianOil and GAIL for reviving the plants at a cost of Rs 30,000 crore. These companies have formed special purpose vehicles with state-run fertiliser companies for the purpose.
Additionally, GAIL will invest in pipeline infrastructure, while a liquid gas import terminal is being set up at Dhamra in joint venture the Adani group. All together, the cumulative investment will come to about Rs 50,000 crore
"Such a huge investment is rare in the history of eastern India and boost economic activities and bring second round of green revolution in the region as well as create thousands of jobs," Pradhan said.
The Talcher unit will be fed gas produced from coal using coal gassification technology. "Coal India has given a coal block for the project. It has also given coal linkage to cover the time till production starts from the block. Everything is in place," Pradhan said.
Revival of the fertiliser units is expected to boost productivity of the agriculture sector, which accounts for 15% of India's $2.11-trillion economy and employs three-fifths of its 1.3 billion people.
Source: The Times Of India