The ambitious Talcher fertilizer plant will be dedicated to the nation by October 2024, Union Fertilizer Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Saturday.
While reviewing the progress of the Talcher fertiliser plant in the presence of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Mandaviya said, "India's agriculture sector requires fertilizers for the sector to flourish and the country is currently dependent on imports and domestic production of fertilizers.
Under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister, India set out the target to become Aatmanirbhar in this field as well." India's domestic production of urea will see a major boost with five new fertilizer plants coming up in the country.
Four of these plants are already functional while a unit at Talcher is a coal gasification plant which will become functional by October 2024, he said. Revival of Talcher unit is being undertaken by Talcher Fertilizers Ltd (TFL), a company promoted by GAIL (India) Ltd, Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd (RCF), Coal India Ltd (CIL) and Fertilizers Corporation of India Ltd (FCIL).
Mandaviya said, "The government is taking significant steps in making the country Aatmanirbhar. Fertilizer is one of them. By utilising new technological interventions like coal gasification in our fertilizer plants and using our own resources like coal, India is moving towards self-sufficiency in the urea sector," he said.
With this vision, the government of India has been reviewing the progress of Talcher unit which will be India's largest and first coal gasification urea plant, added the Union Minister.
Mandaviya also said that this endeavour will be a significant step towards ensuring energy security of the country through harnessing the vast coal reserves of the country in a manner which is more environment friendly than direct fired coal projects.
While reviewing the work progress, Mandaviya & Pradhan were provided an overview of the project in the model room. Thereafter, they visited the plant site wherein the construction and erection activities of the project were reviewed carefully.
They emphasised upon the importance of the plant in the national context and instructed the concerned officials to meet the deadline for commissioning of the plant. Mandaviya emphasised on the coordinated efforts among all stakeholders for timely commissioning of the plant.
TFL has been mandated by the government to revive the erstwhile Talcher plant of FCIL by setting up a new coal gasification-based urea plant with the installed capacity of 12.7 lakh metric ton per annum (LMTPA).
Since the project promotes coal gasification, it shall also aid in meeting the stated aim of gasifying 100 MT of coal by 2030. Start of all five plants of FCIL would add 63.5 LMTP indigenous urea production capacity in the country.
Out of five, four plants at Ramagundam, Gorakhpur, Sindri and Barauni have already started urea production in the country while Talcher plant is expected to start by October 2024.