The Union cabinet has given its approval for setting up a new ammonia-urea complex at an estimated investment of Rs 4,500 crore in Namrup in Dibrugarh district of Upper Assam. The new ammonia-urea complex would have annual capacity of 8.64 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) and would be set up through public-private-partnership (PPP) route by a joint venture (JV).
The setting up of a new ammonia-urea complex is expected to meet the growing demand of urea in Northeast, Bihar, West Bengal and Jharkhand. It would also ease the pressure on infrastructure due to long distance transportation of urea from western and central regions.
In the proposed JV, Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Limited (BVFCL), a public sector undertaking of Union fertilisers department and based in Namrup, government of Assam and Oil India Limited (OIL) will have 11 per cent, 11 per cent and 26 per cent equity holding respectively and balance 52 per cent would be shared by private or public sector entities which would be inducted through a competitive bidding process.
The Cabinet also approved the financial restructuring of BVFCL by waiving off entire cumulative interest accrued on government of India loans and conversion of government of India loans as interest free loan. The step was taken to enable BVFCL to participate as equity partner in this project and will sustain the operation of the existing plants during the interim period till the new plant comes into operation.
The setting up of a new ammonia-urea complex is expected to meet the growing demand of urea in Northeast, Bihar, West Bengal and Jharkhand. It would also ease the pressure on infrastructure due to long distance transportation of urea from western and central regions.
In the proposed JV, Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Limited (BVFCL), a public sector undertaking of Union fertilisers department and based in Namrup, government of Assam and Oil India Limited (OIL) will have 11 per cent, 11 per cent and 26 per cent equity holding respectively and balance 52 per cent would be shared by private or public sector entities which would be inducted through a competitive bidding process.
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The annual consumption of urea in the country is approximately 310 LMT, out of which 230 LMT is produced indigenously and rest is imported. To enhance the production of urea indigenously, the Centre had earlier approved the revival of Talcher (Odisha) and Ramagundam (Telangna) units of Fertilizer Corporation of India Limited (FCIL) through 'nomination route' and Barauni unit of Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation Limited (HFCL) and Gorakhpur unit of FCIL through 'bidding route'. These four units will produce about 52 lakh MT of urea annually.
The Cabinet also approved the financial restructuring of BVFCL by waiving off entire cumulative interest accrued on government of India loans and conversion of government of India loans as interest free loan. The step was taken to enable BVFCL to participate as equity partner in this project and will sustain the operation of the existing plants during the interim period till the new plant comes into operation.