New Delhi: The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, yesterday gave its approval for the revival of the closed unit of the Barauni of the Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation Ltd. (HFCL) and Gorakhpur Fertilizer Unit of Fertilizers Corporation India Limited.
Fertilizer Plant (representative image)
These units were lying defunct and were not in operation since 2004. Therefore, the units and other facilities were lying unutilized. The Govt. of India had declared closure of plant in September, 2002 and majority of its employees were released under VSS.
Barauni Fertilizer plant was the only fertilizer plant in North Bihar and together with IOCL Refinery and Barauni Thermal plant, it made Begusarai, the most industrialized city of North Bihar, in past.
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 will ensure timely availability of urea from these units 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.
This decision along with the CCEA’s decision on gas pooling for the urea sector will enable these units to get gas at pooled price on their revival, making them globally competitive.