‘Govt. committed to FACT revival’

The Union Ministry of Fertilizers and Chemicals has reiterated that it is committed to the revival of Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore (FACT).

A report released by the Ministry early this month said that under the Make in India programme, the government was committed to achieve self-reliance in fertilizer production and that the Ministry had fast-tracked the revival of fertilizer units located at Gorakhpur, Sindri, Barauni, Talcher and Ramangundam.

The Union ministry is also “committed to the revival of the Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd. and restructuring of Madras Fertilizers Limited”, the report said.

The report said the government was closely interacting with domestic producers on a regular basis to ensure maximum utilisation of capacities.

The ministry report showed that utilisation of capacities for production of both urea and complex fertilisers at public sector production units between June and November 2014 stood at 112 per cent and 63 per cent.

Meanwhile, ammonia production at the public sector company is back on track with the unit signing an agreement with government-owned MMTC for the supply of natural gas.

With the market price of natural gas ruling low, a long-term agreement for fuel supply is expected to provide more stability to its operations. Preparations are also on for re-starting caprolactam production.

A report from the ministry showed that there had been no shortage of urea, complex fertilizers and other fertilizer inputs in the State during the month of January.

The ministry figures said that urea sales during January this year stood at a little more than 13,000 tonnes while NPK sales stood at 6,000 tonnes for the month.