NEW DELHI, November 7: The central government has granted first stage clearance to Krishak Bharati Cooperative Ltd (Kribhco) for setting up a Rs 1,270 crore fertiliser plant at the existing site of the sick Fertiliser Corporation of India's (FCI) Gorakhpur plant.

Announcing this at a meeting of the members of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee, the chemicals and fertiliser minister M Arunachalam said first stage clearance has also been accorded to Kribhco's Hazira expansion plan.

pKribhco has proposed to set up a 1,350 tonnes per day capacity ammonia and 2,200 tonnes per day capacity urea plant at Gorakhpur, for reviving the sick FCI unit, an official release said. The proposal was delayed due to non-agreement on some vital issues like voluntary retirement of the existing employees. Kribhco is also involved in a joint venture project in Oman to exploit cheap and abundantly available natural gas. The $ 106 million project will have a capacity of 3,500 tonnes per day of ammonia and 4,400 tonnes per day of urea.

Kribhco and Rashtriya Chemical and Fertilisers (RCF) together will hold 50 per cent of the equity. The Indian partners will offtake 100 per cent of urea production, Arunachalam said.

Kribhco and IFFCO are also exploring possibilities to participate in a joint venture ammonia-urea project at Qeshm island in Iran.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.