RCF plans Rs 4K cr capacity expansion

Phase-I of Thal project has got govt clearance.

Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF), the public sector chemical and fertiliser major, is investing Rs 4,000 crore to increase the manufacturing capacity of urea and ammonium at its Thal unit in Raigad district of Maharashtra.

Over Rs 450 crore will be invested to de-bottleneck its old urea plant, which would increase the plant's capacity from 18.5 million tonnes (MT) to 20.3 MT, while Rs 3,500 crore will be invested for the brownfield expansion of its manufacturing facilities, which would increase the capacity by another 10 million tonnes.

"The de-bottelnecking project will start within three months, with a 18-month completion time," said M Sundararaman, director (finance), RCF.

He said the brownfield ammonium-urea chemical complex project at Thal has received the first stage clearance from the Department of Fertilisers and the Public Investment Board (PIB).

"The project is now awaiting environmental clearance. We hope to finalise financial closure in a few months and set up the project by March 2010," he said.

The project will add another one million MT per annum capacity. It will have power generation and other production handling facilities.

He said over Rs 7,000 crore would be required to revamp other fertiliser units at Durgapur in West Bengal and Talcher in Orissa, which were entrusted to RCF by the Government for revival.

Meanwhile, the 50:50 joint venture between RCF and the Rajasthan State Mines & Minerals (RSMML) "" Rajasthan Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RRCFL) "" is setting up a plant at Kappasan near Jaipur to manufacture 850 mtpd of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), with the JV partners supplying the raw material.

Recently, the company had entered into a joint venture with Gas Authority of India (GAIL) for setting up a coal gasification project at Talcher in Orissa with an investment of Rs 3,200 crore.

RCF's other urea plant at Trombay has not been functioning for the last five years due to non-availability of gas. The company is awaiting gas from GAIL's Uran-Dahej gas pipeline to revive the unit. Efforts were also on to revamp the Trombay plant, said sources.