Centre reviving Sick Fertilizer Plants: Minister Hansraj

New Delhi: The government is working to revive sick fertiliser units and a financial revival package has been prepared for Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore (FACT) and Madras Fertilizers Ltd.

“A proposal for seeking approval of the cabinet for financial revival package of FACT has been prepared. It is yet to be placed before the cabinet,” Minister of State for Chemical and Fertilizer Hansraj Gangaram Ahir told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

Regarding Madras Fertilizers, declared sick in 2009, the minister said that “to make the net-worth of the company positive a proposal for the financial restructuring of MFL has been prepared”.

In May, the union cabinet had approved financial restructuring of the Brahampurtra Valley Fertilizers Corp in Namrup, Assam “that will help the company in making its net-worth positive and also setting up of a new Brownfield ammonia-urea complex within the existing premises”, Ahir said.

In reply to another question, Ahir said the government had decided to revive the Fertilizer Corporation of India’s closed units at Talcher (Odisha), Ramagundam (Telangana), Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh), Sindri (Jharkhand) and Hindustan Fertilizer Corp’s Barauni unit in Bihar.

“Revival of Talcher and Ramagundam are already in progress and likely to be completed by the end of the year 2018,” Ahir said.

“Talcher and Ramagundam units are being revived ‘on nomination basis’ while rest of the units are to be revived ‘on bidding route’,” he added. (IANS)