Korba fertiliser plant to be revived after 42 years

Govt to invest Rs 9,000 cr to restart the plant

After 42 years, the fertiliser plant in Chhattisgarh's Korba district might finally again see the light of the day.

Union minister of state for chemicals and fertiliser Hansram Gangaram Ahir said on Thursday the plant would be revived. "The plant would become operational by 2019," Ahir said in Korba, about 250 km from Raipur.

The plan is part of the Narendra Modi government's move to restart closed fertiliser plants in the country and push the theme of 'Make in India'.

The plant was not in the revival plan initially. The government had earlier said it would revive four plants - Talcher in Odisha, Ramagundam in Telangana, Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh and Barauni in Bihar - with an investment of Rs 50,000 crore. Korba would be the fifth in the series.

"The Korba plant would be revived with an investment of Rs 9,000 crore," said Ahir. It would have an installed capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per annum. While the new plant would be powered with the Chinese technology, the ministry was yet to take a final call on whether to implement it through public-private partnership or to constitute a joint venture, he added.

The foundation stone for the plant proposed by the Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCI) was laid in 1973 by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The required equipment for the project was procured, the employees were recruited and the construction work started. However, the project, proposed on 900 acres, could not take off because the technology available then was not feasible to run it.

When the Korba plant missed the list of reviving fertiliser units, local Member of Parliament Bansilal Mahto took up the issue with the ministry and finally got its nod to restart the unit.