New Firm To Take Control Of Hfcs Namrup Units

The government has formed a new company, Brahmaputra Valley Fertiliser Corporation Ltd, to take control of three fertiliser plants belonging to ailing Hindustan Fertiliser Corporation Ltd (HFC) in the Namrup complex (in Assam).

In the initial phase, the managing director and finance director of HFC will function as officers on special duty with the new company which has been registered in Shillong.

However, the company will eventually have its own chairman and managing director as well as its own board of directors.

While the revamped company is expected to hire several employees, the bulk of the jobs will be filled through lateral transfers from HFC.

The government has undertaken a Rs 509-crore revamp of the Namrup units.

This is expected to take the capacity of the fertiliser complex to 5.5 lakh tonne of urea.

Of the three plants there, Namrup I makes only ammonia while Namrup II and III (which are ammonia and urea plants) will both have a capacity to produce 1.9 lakh tonne and 3.9 lakh tonne of urea, respectively, after completion of the revamp.

The Namrup plants have been part of the HFC, which was referred to the Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) and declared sick in 1992. BIFR