(a) Whether it is a fact that the Government have not yet finally given clearance
of Hazira Phase-II Project submitted by KRIBHCO;
(b) if so, the reasons therefor;
(c) whether the Government are importing fertilizers due to delay in giving
approval to the Hazira Project; and
(d) if so, the details of quantity of fertilizers imported by the Government during
the last three years along with the expenditure incurred thereon?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS(SH. S.B. MOOKHERJEE)
(a) & (b): The proposed Hazira (Phase-II) Fertilizer Expansion Project of
Krishak Bharati Cooperative Ltd. (KRIBHCO) along with three other proposed urea
projects in the Public/Cooperative sector was approved ‘in principle’ by the
Government in April 1999 subject to investment appraisal of these projects by the
Public Investment Board (PIB). Investment appraisal of these urea projects was
undertaken by the PIB in July 1999. In June 2000, a proposal for taking a final
investment decision on these projects was considered and deferred by the
Government. This proposal was formulated taking into account the observations of
the PIB regarding the viability of the projects, desirability of encouraging use of
liquefied natural gas as feedstock to reduce the incidence of subsidy and the need
to stagger implementation of the proposed projects due to limited demand supply
gap forecasts.
(c) & (d) : Urea is the only fertilizer which is under statutory price and
movement control and whose imports were made to bridge the gap between the
requirement and indigenous availability. The quantity of urea imports in the last
three years along with the expenditure incurred thereon is as under :-
Year Urea (LMT) C&F value (Rs. Crore) 1998-99 5.56 240.00 1999-2000 5.33 197.16 2000-01 Nil -