The beleaguered integrated chemical and metallurgical complex (ICMC) to produce titanium dioxide and other titanium products at Chhatrapur in south Orissa's Ganjam district has got a fresh jolt with the project's Indian promoter- Saraf Agencies serving a notice to pull out from the joint venture (JV).
It may be noted that the Rs 2000-crore project had been in a limbo as the sparring JV partners- the Indian and Russian promoters, had failed to arrive at any settlement even after several rounds of talks.
Sharp differences had cropped up among the promoters owing to the controversial manner of land allotment for the project with the Russians objecting to allotment of land in the name of Saraf Agencies instead of the JV company.
“If the issue is not resolved amicably, we will pull out of the project”, said S M Saraf, chairman of Titanium Projects Private Ltd (TPPL), the company implementing the project. Saraf is also the chairman of the Kolkata-based Saraf Agencies, the Indian promoter of the project, which holds 45 per cent stake in TPPL.
The remaining stake is held by the Russian promoters- Russian Federal Agency for State Property Management and JSC Technochim Holding.
Meanwhile, the government is making efforts to resolve the problems amicably between the JV partners. “The Russian government has not withdrawn from the JV. Russia has expressed interest in continuing with the plans to set up the titanium dioxide plant, once the outstanding issues between the JV partners are resolved”, Union minister for external affairs S M Krishna had recently stated in a reply to Rajya Sabha member Renubala Pradhan.
Both the Indian and Russian governments have offered their good offices to help the joint venture partners to resolve all issues amicably and the Orissa government has also reaffirmed its interest in the project and pledged its support, the minister had said.
The Orissa government has called the JV partners for another round of talks which is likely to be held this month, said a senior government official.
The titanium complex is being developed by TPPL, a company formed in January 29, 2008. Unlike other mega industrial projects in the state, TPPL has not faced any major hurdle in land acquisition. While 300 acres have already been acquired for the project at Chhatrapur, the acquisition of additional 300 ares of land was underway for the Special Economic Zone (SEZ). In the first phase of the project, the company proposed to invest about Rs 1200 crore, while Rs 800 crore was to be invested in the second phase. The first phase was scheduled to be completed within a period of 24 months and production was scheduled to commence from October 2010. The titanium complex aimed to produce 1,08, 000 tonnes of titanium slag, 68000 tonnes of high purity pig iron, 40000 tonnes of di-oxide pigment and 10,000 tonnes of titanium sponge.
