FCIL signs MoU for reviving Talcher urea plant

State-run Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCIL) Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Coal India (CIL), GAIL India (GAIL) and Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers (RCF) for reviving its Talcher urea plant in Odisha, the ministry of chemicals and fertilizers said here.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Petroleum Minister M. Veerapa Moily, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal and Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Srikant Jena.

Jena said the plant would be revived by the consortium of four public sector copanies at an estimated cost of about Rs.8,000 crore, the statement said.

The project would produce 1.2 million tons per annum (MTPA) of urea and ammonium Nitrate, while CIL shall supply about 5 MTPA of coal for the project, the release said.

FCIL, a multi-unit fertilizer undertaking under the Department of Fertilizers with units at Sindri, Talcher, Ramagundam, Gorakhpur and Korba, closed its Talcher unit in September 2002.

A revival process was started by the government and the cabinet approved the proposal for revival of closed units of FCIL in April 2007, the release said.

According to the ministry, the project, expected to be commissioned by 2017, will not only reduce the dependence on imported urea but shall also utilize indigenously available feedstock.