Cfc Producers To Get Multilateral Funds For Phaseout

Multilateral funds will now be available to industries manufacturing ozone depleting substances, including chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). An in-principle decision to this effect has been taken by the ministry of environment and forests.

So far, this aid was being arranged by the government for the user industries only. This measure has been taken to speed up the ODS phaseout programme. The modalities of the grant-in-aid are being worked out.

The aid is arranged through the multilateral fund of the Montreal Protocol of 1987 to which India is a signatory.

Although the aid will cover manufacturers of all ozone depleting substances, including carbon tetrachloride, methyl chloroform, halons besides CFC, the gainers are likely to be the major CFC producers like Navin Flurorine Industries, Gujarat Fluorochemicals, Chemicals and Plastics India Ltd, SRF Ltd and Hindustan Fluoro-carbon Ltd.

 

CFC producers were sore that while the government expected them to phase out CFC production and arrange for alternative technologies for development of the substitutes under a tight time frame, the multilateral aid was is not coming their way. The fact that the installed equipment at these industries are product specific had compounded their problem.

It has also been decided that medium and small industries will be given preference while considering proposals for grant of aid for the user industries, official sources said.

According to official statistics, ODS consumption in the country rose from 6402 tonnes in 1995 (in terms of the ozone depleting potential of the ODS) to 6902 tonnes in 1996.

The $46 million from the Montreal Protocol Fund sanctioned for 153 projects sanctioned until December 1997 is reported to have helped replace over 6,000 tonnes of ODSs till mid 1998.