India to frame investment policy to restart 8 closed urea units

20 July 2010 10:03  [Source: ICIS news]

MUMBAI (ICIS news)--The Indian government is expected to frame a new investment policy which would allow it to restart eight closed fertilizer plants, a source from the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers said on Tuesday.

An empowered group of ministers (EGoM) was expected to meet towards the end of July to work out the new investment policy for the closed urea plants, he said.

The policy would be ready for cabinet approval in a couple of months, the source added. 

The Fertilizer Corp of India (FCI) and the Hindustan Fertilizer Corp Ltd (HFCL) own the eight urea plants.

The plants include Barauni, Talcher, Ramagundam, Durgapur, Haldia, Gorakhpur, Korba and Sindri. Each unit had a capacity of 1.15m tonnes/year, the source said.

The government was considering various options including open bidding and public private partnership to revive the plants, he added.

The EGoM was also expected to decide on the fertilizer industry’s demands for additional natural gas feedstock supply from the KG D6 fields, the source said, but did not provide further details.

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By: Priya Jestin

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