ONGC to begin work on urea plant in Tripura next year

Fertiliser plant to be set up in Unakoti district, will be the biggest initiative in the state so far

With the allocation of 800 acres near Khobal gasfield  by Tripura government, ONGC will begin work to set up a Rs 5000 crore urea plant next year, company sources said today.

The fertiliser plant to be set up in Unakoti district, would be the biggest initiative in the state so far.

With the commissioning of the project, the urea demand for the entire northeastern region would be made and a large chunk of the produce could be exported to Bangladesh, the sources said.

The site has been selected considering the close proximity to Khobal gas field from where natural gas (hydrocarbon) would be supplied, the sources said.

ONGC had discovered huge gas reserves at Khobal near the Assam-Agartala National Highway (NH-44) in 2011 and Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, had requested the company's CMD Sudhir Vasudeva to set up a fertiliser manufacturing company in Tripura to ensure optimum utilisation of natural gas.

This was welcomed by ONGC, which then invited expression of interest for setting up the manufacturing unit.

The state government, ONGC and private sector Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals had signed memorandum of understanding on April 9 to set up the project.

The sources said carrying of over dimensional machines for the proposed plant is difficult given the hilly terrain of the northeast, but it would be easier to carry them via Bangladesh if the neighbouring country allowed the use of its waterways, land routes and ports.

Bangladesh had extended the same cooperation for setting up the 726 mg watt gas-fired thermal project at Gomati district. The project has started generation.