Matix to invest Rs 5,000 crore on phase 2 of Panagarh urea project

NEW DELHI: As the first phase of its Panagarh urea plant is ready for commissioning, Matix Fertilizers plans to invest another Rs 5,000 crore on second phase of the project.

"The first phase of company's greenfield fertiliser complex at Panagarh (West Bengal) is ready to be commissioned. The capacity of plant is 1.3 million tonnes per annum, and about Rs 6,000 crore has been invested on it," MATIX Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd Managing Director P R Dhariwal said.

The plant, however, is facing the issue of availability of gas. The company is planning to use coal bed methane (CBM) gas as feedstock which will be sourced from Essar Oil's Raniganj block. For this, a dedicated pipeline for 30 km has already been set up, Dhariwal added.

"The company has also applied for the second phase of plant under the new urea investment policy. We are planning to set up the same capacity (1.3 million tonnes per annum) plant and it will require investment of about Rs 5,000 crore," he said.

Dhariwal added that the company has also set up captive power plant with capacity of 54 mega watt.

The company plans to tap the market of West Bengal and neighbouring Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa where there is no urea plant in operation at present.

Meanwhile, the government is also working to revive the closed urea plants of FCIL and HFCL in Bihar, Orissa and Jharkhand.