New Delhi, June 19: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of India’s first commercial-scale coal-to-ammonium nitrate project in Odisha tomorrow, marking a major step in the country’s push for industrial self-reliance and import substitution.
The ₹25,016 crore coal gasification project will come up at Lakhanpur in Jharsuguda district.
The project is being developed by Bharat Coal Gasification and Chemicals Limited, a joint venture of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited and Coal India Limited.
According to the Ministry of Coal, the Lakhanpur project will produce 2,000 tonnes per day of ammonium nitrate using indigenously developed coal gasification technology by BHEL.
The project is significant because coal gasification converts coal into synthesis gas, or syngas, which can be used to manufacture products such as methanol, urea, ammonium nitrate, synthetic natural gas and other chemical feedstocks.
The government sees this as a major route to reduce dependence on imported raw materials and strengthen India’s domestic industrial base.
India currently imports end-use and intermediate chemical products worth around ₹2.7 lakh crore every year.
The Ministry said coal gasification offers an opportunity to reduce these imports, save foreign exchange and support domestic manufacturing.
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The Lakhanpur facility will come up on about 350 acres of land under the possession of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited, a subsidiary of Coal India Limited. A land-leasing agreement for the project was signed in April between BCGCL and MCL.
The project has received the required clearances, and work is expected to begin after the foundation stone ceremony.
The Ministry of Coal is also providing ₹1,350 crore support under its incentive scheme.
The government has approved incentive schemes with a cumulative outlay of up to ₹46,000 crore to promote surface coal and lignite gasification projects across the country.
The broader coal gasification push is expected to attract investments of ₹2.5 lakh crore to ₹3 lakh crore and create around 50,000 direct and indirect jobs across 25 projects in coal-bearing regions.
The ministry said the Odisha project will serve as a model for future coal gasification ventures and support the vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat by promoting clean coal technologies, value addition to domestic coal resources and a stronger industrial ecosystem.
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