Bhubaneswar: The much awaited Talcher Fertilizers plant has been back on track with completion of over 60 percent of work for early commissioning of the plant, which will benefit lakhs of farmers from Odisha and other states.
The Union government has undertaken the revival of the Talcher unit of M/s FCIL, located in Angul district. Accordingly, a joint venture company named Talcher Fertilizers Ltd. (TFL) has been incorporated for setting up a coal gasification-based Ammonia Urea Plant of 12.7 LMTPA capacity, which is first of its kind in India.
According to official sources, the TFL has given contracts for coal gasification and ammonia urea packages to Wuhuan Engineering Company Ltd (WECL), China in September, 2019.
The project was delayed December, 2019 onwards, after COVID–19 pandemic strikes immediately across the globe, having its epicenter at Wuhan, affected the progress of the project in a severe manner till May, 2020.
Later, multiple waves of COVID-19 pandemic struck India which resulted in enforcement of lockdown at local levels thereby impacting the progress of project schedule, the sources said.
Further, the progress of the project has been impacted due to backlog in procurement, construction and equipment erection, they said.
As on October 31, 2024, the overall progress of the project stood at 63.75 percent. As regards the Outside Battery Limit (OSBL) Packages, the overall progress is 73.95 percent.
The OSBL Packages like OSBL Pipe rack, Plant lighting, Renovation of non-plant buildings, Boiler-1 & Raw water treatment plant & DM Water Plant are in advanced stage of completion, the source informed.
Because of above mentioned reasons, the project could not be commissioned by the targeted timeline of September, 2024.
The progress of the project is regularly reviewed by the JV partners and TFL Board and all efforts are being made by TFL for completion of the project. TFL is also conducting regular VCs with WECL, China Engineering team to resolve the pending engineering issues.
Also, since July 2024, TFL has started deducting Mutually Agreed Damages (MAD) from bills of WECL under the existing contract provisions due to slow progress and delays in project completion.
On completion of the project, the production of urea in the country will increase by 12.7 LMTPA and will assist in ensuring adequate and timely supply of fertilizers to the farmers in and around Odisha.
Also, in addition to the socio-economic development in the region, the setting up of the project will also open up direct and indirect employment opportunities, they said.