No more urea crisis for Bengal farmers : Pradhan

Union Petroleum and Natural Gasminister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday said farmers of WestBengal will no longer face any crisis in urea supply afterthe Matix fertiliser plant is commissioned here.GAILS 348 km long Dobhi-Durgapur natural gaspipeline, which will be dedicated by Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday will facilitate the fertiliser plant, he said.The union minister said West Bengal requires about 1.5million tonne of urea and the first 1.3 million tonne ureaplant in the state will act as a boon for the farmers of thestate.The Matix plant cannot produce urea due to lack offeedstock.

Union Petroleum and Natural Gasminister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday said farmers of WestBengal will no longer face any crisis in urea supply afterthe Matix fertiliser plant is commissioned here.

GAIL'S 348 km long Dobhi-Durgapur natural gaspipeline, which will be dedicated by Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday will facilitate the fertiliser plant, he said.

The union minister said West Bengal requires about 1.5million tonne of urea and the first 1.3 million tonne ureaplant in the state will act as a boon for the farmers of thestate.

''The Matix plant cannot produce urea due to lack offeedstock. The prime minister will dedicate the GAIL gaspipeline on February 7 which will connect this urea plantwill help mitigate the urea crisis in the state,'' Pradhan toldreporters here.

Pradhan also paid a visit to Matix plant to review thefeedstock connectivity infrastructure.

The plant is ready and its trial run had beenconducted long back. But it could not commercialise productiondue to lack of gas, which is its feed stock. Matix expectscommercial production by April 2021.

Matix Group's flagship investment is a three millionton per annum (MTPA) fertiliser plant in West Bengal in twophases.

The cost of the pipeline project is Rs 2400 crore andwas commenced in 2018.

The petroleum minister said Modi will dedicate fourprojects worth around Rs 4700 crore in oil, gas andinfrastructure sectors at Haldia during his visit to WestBengal on February 7.

Pradhan said till 2014 there was no natural gaspipeline in the eastern region and the Dobhi-Durgapur gaspipeline was constructed as part of Modi's initiative todevelop the eastern region.