The government has decided to reactivate Pak-China fertiliser plant to meet expected shortfall of urea fertiliser in the coming Rabi season. This decision was taken at a meeting with Industries Minister Jahangir Khan Tareen in the chair here on Tuesday. Minister for Food and Agriculture Sikandar Hayat Bosan and Minister of State for Finance Umar Ayub Khan also attended the meeting.
The meeting reviewed in depth the pending issue of revival of Pak-China fertiliser plant to cope with the shortfall of urea and to increase capacity.
The Chairman of National Fertiliser Corporation, Major General (Retd) Zafar Abbas, gave a detailed presentation at the meeting regarding rehabilitation of the Pak China fertiliser plant.
The meeting discussed the availability of urea in the country and highlighted the problems of shortfall of urea in coming Rabi season.
General Abbas informed the meeting that production capacity of the plant would be 95,700 tons and reactivation of the plant would cost Rs 737 million to clear all liabilities including expenditure on rehabilitation of the plant, and it would be completed in 8-9 months period.
He also apprised the meeting that commissioning of the plant would result in saving of Rs 1.58 billion per annum subsidy on import of 95,700 tons urea and foreign exchange expenditure of $28.71 million annually to be incurred on import of equivalent quantity of urea.
Jahangir directed the chief of Expert Advisory Cell to submit, within two weeks, a detailed study report on production capacity and completion of new fertiliser plants coming up in the private sector so that this case could be submitted to ECC for approval.