BIFR hearing on Talcher urea plant

In its last hearing on Dec 19, the bench had directed the company to expedite cabinet note for approval of waiver of dues of unsecured creditors

The Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) will take up its next hearing on the revival of closed fertiliser plant of Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCI) at Talcher on Thursday.

In its last hearing held on December 19 last year, the BIFR bench directed the company to expedite Cabinet note for approval of waiver of dues of unsecured creditors.

The bench had expressed satisfaction over the progress of the plant's revival.

Earlier, BIFR had directed FCI to submit all audited accounts — balance sheets and profit & loss accounts along with auditor accounts from the date of sickness to the present period.

The Talcher urea plant, the only of its kind in eastern India, was setup in the late 70s and began commercial production in 1980. Though the plant was running and producing urea, it was making recurring losses. After being in red for several years, the company was referred to the BIFR in 1992. Urea production was suspended from April 1, 1999 after the Union government stopped budgetary support.

The BIFR after hearing the case ordered closure of the plant in 2002 in the absence of any revival proposal by the then government. At a public meeting held at Talcher in December 2012, Union minister of state for chemicals and fertilisers and statistics & programme implementation Srikant Jena had announced that revival work on the closed fertiliser plant would take off in six months.

The minister had inaugurated the site office of Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers (RCF). The revival of the gas-based fertiliser plant would cost Rs 8,000 crore and it will be revived by a consortium of three PSUs — FCI, RCF and Coal India Ltd (CIL).

RCF will have the controlling stake in the consortium. CIL will ensure uninterrupted coal supply to the fertiliser unit.

In March last year, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, seeking expeditious revival of the fertiliser plant.

“The state is experiencing urea shortages frequently and the demand supply gap for urea has widened over the years. There is no urea plant in the eastern region and the revival of the Talcher plant will go a long way in addressing a chronic shortage. This step would provide employment and also contribute to the overall growth and development of the eastern region. Further, this plant can build synergy with the Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR)which the Odisha government is developing with the support of the Government of India,” Patnaik had stated in his letter.