Cabinet gives nod for revival of Barauni and Gorakhpur fertiliser units

Union Cabinet has given its approval for nod the revival of the closed unit of the Barauni of the Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation Ltd (HFCL) and Gorakhpur fertiliser unit of Fertilizers Corporation India Limited (FCIL).
 
This decision along with the CCEA’s decision to allow gas pooling for the urea sector will enable these units to get gas at pooled price on their revival, making them globally competitive, said the Department of Fertilizers press release.
 
Gorakhpur and Barauni units were lying defunct and were not in operation since 2004. Therefore, the units and other facilities were lying unutilised. It is important to mention here that there is no indigenous urea units in the Eastern part of the country except a small unit at Namrup - Assam. There has been no greenfield or brownfield urea unit in last 19 years.
 
The total requirement of urea in the country is around 300 lakh metric tonne (LMT) out of which 220-230 LMT of urea is produced annually from the indigenous urea units and balance is being met from the international market at Western and Eastern Ports.
 
The demand of urea of the Eastern region, at present is being met either from the Western ports or from the units located in Western and Central India involving long distance transportation. Long distance transportation of urea riddled with high expenditure in terms of high freight subsidy as well as logistics problems.
 
The revival of these units is expected to ensure timely availability of urea to the eastern region. Apart from growth of the regional economy of the country, each unit will be revived through bidding route with an approximate investment of Rs 5000-6000 crore, and create employment opportunity for 500 direct and 2500 indirect workers.