The Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative (IFFCO) on Tuesday said its Rs 5,000-crore expansion plan has been held up due to non-allocation of gas by the Union government.
“We have achieved highest ever growth with production of over 8.58 million tonnes (MT) of fertilizer in 2010-11 from all our plants at Kalol, Kandla, Phulpur, Aonla and Paradeep which are operating at full capacity,” IFFCO Chairman N.P. Patel told mediapersons here.
After completion of expansion at Kalol, IFFCO would be all set to realise the objective of producing 10 MT of fertilizer, he said.
“However, the Rs 5,000-crore expansion plan at Kalol envisaged with production capacity of 1.4 MT has been put on hold due to non-allocation of gas by the Union government,” Mr. Patel said.
He said that despite fertilizer being considered as one of the priority sectors for allocation of gas, they have been waiting for decision from the Union government.
Mr. Patel said their request for gas is under Centre’s consideration and decision is likely in 5-6 months.
Speaking about the Kalol unit expansion, Patel said consultant for offsite facilities has submitted basic documents, technical specification for the facilities and finalised overall plan for the complex.
Environment clearances and other statutory approvals for the project have already been obtained, he added.
Mr. Patel said that work on expansion would start only after firm allocation of gas from the government and it would take nearly 30 months to complete from then.
When asked if IFFCO was planning an Initial Public Offer (IPO), Patel said that they have thought about it, but since this was a farmers cooperative the decision would be taken by all the (40,000 member) cooperatives.
When asked about status of IFFCO’s coal-based power plant in Chhattisgarh, Mr. Patel said they have a target to complete the project in two years time after a formal written environmental clearance from Union government is received.
A company IFFCO Chhattisgarh Power Ltd (ICPL) has been formed which is a joint venture between IFFCO and Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board (CSEB) to set up a 1320 MW power plant in Surguja district of Chhattisgarh.
The total project cost is estimated to be Rs 6,266 crore which will have two supercritical units of 660 MW each.
IFFCO would be holding 74 per cent equity, while CSEB will have 26 per cent share in the power plant.
Other expansion plans of IFFCO includes Rs 35 crore Barge Jetty at Kandla next to its liquid cargo jetty with capacity to handle over 2 MT of bulk solid raw material and imported fertilizers.
IFFCO is also setting up a manufacturing facility for Zinc Sulphate Mono-Hydrate with capacity of 100 tonne per Day (MPD) at Kandla for Rs 28 crore. The facility is expected to be commissioned by September this year.
