Deadline for FCIL's Talchar plant revival tender extended

State-run Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers Ltd has extended the deadline for submitting bids in global tender for revival of FCIL's closed plant at Talcher in Orissa due to poor response from potential bidders.

The estimated cost of revival of the plant is around Rs 8,000 crore.

Fertiliser Corporation of India Ltd (FCIL) had signed an MoU with Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers Ltd (RCF) and Coal India Ltd (CIL) to form a joint venture for revival of its closed plant at Talcher in Orissa.

RCF, on behalf of the proposed JV, had floated a global tender in September last year inviting bids for setting up of coal gasification plant on Build-Own-Operate (BOO) basis.

Since then, RCF has extended the deadline for submitting bids four times. Now, the last date has been extended to August 2.

"We are not getting the desired response from the bidders. So far only two companies have shown some interest but even they have sought clarification," a senior official in RCF said when asked about deadline extension.

"Potential bidders are taking time to understand before submitting bids," he added.

Another senior official in the Fertiliser Ministry said: "We are also looking at the option to do some modifications in the conditions of tenders to attract more bidders."

On June 27, the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) de-registered FCIL, paving way for revival of 3 closed urea plants, including Talcher unit in Orissa, with an investment of about Rs 17,000 crore.

The de-registration comes close on the heels of the disinvestment of the RCF which had been approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).