Union Cabinet today approved the revival of closed urea unit of Fertilizer Corporation India Limited (FCIL) at Sindri in Jharkhand with an investment of Rs 6000 crore. A decision in this regard was taken at the Cabinet meeting in New Delhi.
This unit was lying defunct and was not in operation since 2002 and its revival will help meet the growing demand of urea in the Bihar, West Bengal and Jharkhand. It will also ease the pressure on railway and road infrastructure due to long distance transportation of urea from Western and Central Regions. The Unit will create 500 direct and 3000 indirect employments.
The Cabinet also gave its nod for setting up of a new Ammonia-Urea Complex at Namrup in Assam on Public Private Partnership mode with an estimated investment of Rs 4500 crore. The new Complex will have an annual capacity of 8.64 Lakh Metric Tonnes.
The setting up of a new unit will meet the growing demand of urea in North-East, Bihar, West Bengal and Jharkhand. It will also accelerate the economic development of the region and will open new avenues for the people of the North-East. It also approved financial restructuring of Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Limited by waiving off entire cumulative interest of around Rs 775 crore till March this year.
In other decisions, the Cabinet approved Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) Continuation Programme of fifteen operational flights of PSLV-C36 to PSLV-C50. The PSLV continuation programme will cost Rs 3090 crore. It will enable the launch of satellites required for Earth Observation, Navigation and Space Sciences along with the possibility of clinching commercial launch service contracts. It will meet the demand for the launch of satellites at a frequency of four to five launches per year.