Ranchi | May 21, 2015: The Union cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today okayed reviving the urea unit of Fertilizer Corporation of India Limited (FCIL) at Sindri with an investment of Rs 6,000 crore.
The Union ministry of chemicals and fertilisers is planning to float an open tender, inviting both private and public companies to bid for restoring the urea unit, closed since December 31, 2002, and also set up a new power plant.
Apart from giving regional economy a big push, the unit will create 500 direct and 3,000 indirect jobs in Sindri.
Chief minister Raghubar Das said he was elated at the news. "This is a big gift from the Centre to Jharkhand. I congratulate the Prime Minister for all his good efforts," said the chief minister. "I have also talked to Union fertiliser minister Anant Kumar on this subject," Das added.
Justifying the need to revive the Sindri unit from a broader point of view, a Press Information Bureau (PIB) release said there was no functional urea unit in eastern India except two small ones in Namrup, Assam.
Restarting the Sindri unit will meet the growing demand of urea in Bihar, Bengal and Jharkhand.
The annual consumption of urea in India is around 310 LMT, out of which 230 LMT is produced indigenously and rest is imported, the PIB release said.
Also, the Sindri unit, once functional, will ease the pressure on railway and road infrastructure, which now has to transport urea across long distances from western and central regions.
Recently, a team of senior officials of the Ahmedabad-headquartered Adani Group visited Sindri, triggering speculation that it was interested.
SAIL, which earlier pledged Rs 35,000 crore to revive the Sindri unit, pulled out. On SAIL's withdrawal, Union steel and mines minister Narendra Singh Tomar told the Rajya Sabha in February that the PSU withdrew due of the lack of availability of 3,500 acres of contiguous and encroachment-free land in Sindri.
To enhance indigenous production of urea, the government earlier said yes to reviving the Talcher (Odisha) and Ramagundam (Telangana) units of FCIL by PSUs via the nominations. Likewise, reviving the Barauni unit of Hindustan Fertiliser Corporation Ltd in Bihar and Gorakhpur unit of FCIL in Uttar Pradesh were approved via bidding.
(Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/)