Odisha government to provide support for establishment of new urea unit

Odisha government has agreed to provide all support for establishment of an urea manufacturing unit at Talcher in the premises of the defunct fertilizer plant of the Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCI).

"Government of India will set up a new fertilizer manufacturing unit at the premises of the old plant of the FCI in Talcher. The state government will provide required support for setting up the new urea unit," chief secretary A P Padhi said after a high-level meeting with CEO of the Talcher fertiliser plant JS Saini.

Saini said: "The state government has assured us to approve the project through single window process." He was hopeful to make the new urea plant operational in February 2021.

Sources said, the new plant will produce ammonia using coal gasification technology from which urea will be produced as the end product.

As the new plant will come up at the old site of FCI’s plant, there will be no land acquisition for the plant. However, the the new unit required coal and therefore develop a coal mine which is located at a distance of eight km from the plant.

Therefore, state government need to undertake land acquisition for the coal mining. As about 500 families are living over the same land, the government need to rehabilitate them before making space for the coal mining, sources said.

Official sources said, Rs 8,000 crore would be spent towards the revival of Talcher Fertilizer plant and the work is expected to start after monsoon.