ECP Industries to invest Rs 50cr in Nayagarh Sugar mill

ECP Industries, which recently took over the Nayagarh Co-operative Sugar Industries (NCSIL) from Orissa government, proposes to turn the stand alone sugar factory into an integrated sugar complex.

"We intend to expand the existing capacity of the mill by about four times to achieve economy of scale, add down stream facilities to produce ethanol and alcohol and set up a co-generation power plant over a period of time", said Trailokya Mihsra, chairman and managing director of ECP Industries. "This will cost us about Rs 50 crore over next five years", he added.

Detailing the expansion plans, he said, the capacity of the unit will be increased from 1250 TCD at present to 2,500 TCD at a cost of Rs 6 to 7 crore by the beginning of 2005-06 crushing season and then finally the capacity ramped up to 5,000 TCD.

Simultaneously steps will be taken to add downstream facilities to make such products as ethanol, industrial alcohol and extra neutral alcohol with an investment of about Rs 15 crore, he said.

This apart, the new owners proposed to set up a co-generation facility to produce 20 MW power at the complex at a cost of Rs 20 crore, said PV Ramana Rao, joint managing director of the company.

Keeping an eye on the sugar cane requirement "� 1.25 lakh tonnes during the coming crushing season and about five lakh tonnes when the unit reached its optimum capacity of 5000 TCD - the company intended to take up intensive sugar cane crop development programme in and around Nayagarh area soon, Rao pointed out.

Meanwhile, the liability of NCSIL, which was closed for four years due to financial constraints, stood at Rs 43.16 crore. Of this a major chunk owed to the financial institutions like IDBI, ICICI, IFCI, SBI and Orissa State Cooperative Bank has recently been cleared through one time settlement. The unit has a balance Rs 3 crore liability towards payment of salary, PF and other dues to its employees.

Besides, to make the plant operational by the targeted date in October, this year, another investment of Rs five crore is required, Rao observed. The ECP Industries has agreed to pay Rs 5.22 crore to Orissa government for transfer of assets and business of Nayagarh Co-operative Sugar Industries.