CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS PLANTS
IN THE COUNTRY
Setting up of fertilizer
plants and of most chemical plants is not subject to licensing
requirements and entrepreneurs can set up manufacturing facilities
after filing an Industrial Entrepreneurs Memorandum (IEM)
In so far as
Chemical plants in the public sector are concerned, the relocation
of Delhi unit of Hindustan Insecticides Limited (HIL), which was
closed under the Orders of Supreme Court with effect from 1st
December, 1996, had been delayed. This plant was originally scheduled
to be commissioned by December, 2000 at a cost of Rs.7.70 crores,
but the project was delayed due to various reasons like the time
taken in the allotment of land and modifications to be carried
out in design and capacities of the plant in terms of covered
area and equipments to meet the norms of M/s Punjab State Industries
& Export Corporation (PSIEC) and M/s FACT Engineering &
Design Organization (FEDO). The plant was initially earmarked
for relocation in any of these States, i.e. Uttar Pradesh, Himachal
Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. Finally the land for the
project was allotted by PSIEC in May, 1999. The plant has since
been relocated at Bathinda, Punjab at a cost of Rs. 10.70 crores
(approx.) and is now operational.
In so far as
Fertilizer plants in the public sector are concerned, there is
only one major project under implementation. This is the Namrup
Revamp Project at Namrup in Assam being implemented by the Brahmaputra
Valley Fertilizer Corporation Limited (BVFC), a new Company formed
on segregation of the Namrup units from Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation
Limited (HFC). Implementation commenced on 2.11.1998 and was scheduled
to be completed by 1st Februray, 2002 at a cost of
Rs. 525.47 crore. Although the Namrup-I & III units restarted
production after revamp in March 2002, completion of Namrup-II
units’s revamp has been delayed.
The completion
of the project has been delayed due to a combination of factors
such as delay in supply of critical equipment by vendors, suppliers
backing out after orders were placed, poor response to enquiries,
slow progress of civil and erection work by the site contractor
and delay in transportation of critical equipment. In order to
speed up project implementation, the Government has been monitoring
progress of revamp jobs during site visits, deputing technical
experts from other fertilizer PSUs/cooperative societies to assist
the project team as well as ensuring presence of the Chief Executive
of BVFC and senior executives of the consultant at Namrup and
release of adequate funds to meet project expenditure.
This information
was given by the Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers Shri Sukhdev
Singh Dhindsa, in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha
today.
