Foreign firms may get to invest in fertiliser units revival

NEW DELHI: The government may rope in foreign companies for the revival of eight closed fertiliser units, which require investments worth Rs 36,000 crore.

"We are exploring all options for the revival of these plants, including allowing foreign companies, apart from encouraging the domestic firms," a top government official said.

The Cabinet had, on October 30, approved the setting up of an Empowered Committee of Secretaries under the chairmanship of Fertiliser Secretary Atul Chaturvedi to come up with possible financial models for the revival of the closed plants at Barauni, Haldia, Talcher, Ramagundam, Durgapur, Gorakhpur, Korba and Sindri.

"We will come up with the best possible model and best partner for the revival within six months. We may select prospective investor on tendering or competitive bidding basis. However, we have kept all options open and it will be a very transparent process," the official said.

State-owned engineering and consultancy company Projects and Development India will advise on this matter, he added.
The units need Rs 4,500 crore each for revival, he said. Each plant has a capacity of producing 1.15 million tons of urea a year, he pointed out.

Sources said that the Finance Ministry is not inclined to give money for the revival of these eight closed plants and both public sector undertakings and cooperative majors like Iffco and Kribhco have their limitations to generate financial resources.

The official also said that a gas supply contract with state-owned GAIL will be entered into in next six months as availability of gas will be key to the revival of any unit.