Cabinet nod to give land on lease and other concession to revive 3 urea units

To revive fertiliser plants at Gorakhpur, Sindri and Barauni, the Centre today decided to give land on lease to Hindustan Urvarak and Rasayan Ltd (HURL) as also other concessions to implement these projects.

The decision in this regard was taken in the cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

HURL, a joint venture company, was incorporated in June 2016 to revive these three plants.

The cabinet approved the proposal to provide the concession agreements and land lease agreements for the revival of Gorakhpur and Sindri units of Fertilizer Corporation of India Ltd (FCIL) and Barauni unit of Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation Ltd (HFCL) by HURL, an official statement said.

The lease deeds are to be signed with HURL by FCIL/HFCL. The lease of land is for a period of 55 years. "The Lessee (HURL) would pay a nominal lease rent of Rs 1 lakh per annum to the lessor (FCIL/HFCL)," it said.

With regard to the concession agreements, the government said they are to be entered between FCIL/HFCL and HURL (concessionaire) for the purpose of giving a right to HURL to carry out complete design, engineering, construction, procurement, testing, commissioning, operate and maintaining fertilizer plants and market its products.

The government further said that the substitution agreement might be required to signed to enable HURL obtain finance to revive these projects. This would be a tri-patriate agreement amongst HURL, lenders' representative for the specific project and FCIL/HFCL.

The Cabinet also authorised an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) to approve substitution agreements and approve other agreements, if any to be signed between FCIL/HFCL and HURL for the three projects at Gorakhpur, Sindri and Barauni, it added.

"The revival of Gorakhpur, Sindri and Barauni units of FCIL/HFCL will ensure substantial investment in the fertilizer sector," the statement said and added this will help country becoming self-sufficient in urea.

These units will act as anchor customer to Jagdishpur-Haldia Pipeline (JHPL) gas pipeline being laid for development of critical infrastructure in Eastern India. This will create job opportunities in the region and also boost the economy of the eastern region/state.

At present, the country produces over 30 million tonnes of urea annually and imports about 6 million tonnes to meet domestic demand.