CIL board okays 2 JVs to revive Talcher urea plant

Taking forward Rs 8,000 crore revival process for FCIL's Talcher urea plant in Odisha, Coal India Ltd (CIL)will form two joint ventures — one with PSU major GAIL and the other with Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF).

The board of directors of Coal India has given its in-principle approval for these JVs, the company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.

A consortium of RCF, GAIL, CIL and Fertiliser Corporation of India Ltd (FCIL) have agreed to invest Rs 8,000 crore for the revival of this urea plant with a production capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per annum.

An MoU has been earlier signed to form two separate joint ventures to revive this plant and also build a power plant and coal washery facility at the site. The first JV would be for upstream coal gasification with GAIL having a majority stake. The second JV would be for urea-cum-ammonia nitrate complex with RCF and CIL being major stakeholders. "The company will form two joint ventures... JV 1 for Coal Gasification with GAIL as a major partner (and) JV 2 - for fertiliser plants, coal mine, coal washery, power plant & utilities with RCF and CIL as major stakeholder," CIL said.