Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated six projects, including launching of the commencement of work for India’s first coal gasification-based fertiliser plant at Talcher and an airport at Jharsuguda.

At Talcher, Modi said: “Our government is committed to the cause of the farmers. Earlier, the fertiliser plants were closed and no efforts were made to open it. Now, we are reviving the long-closed fertiliser plants at Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh), Barauni (Bihar) and Sindri (Jharkhand). The Tachler plant will be functional within 36 months.”

The plant is being developed by Talcher Fertilisers Limited (TFL), a joint venture company of GAIL, Coal India Limited (CIL), Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers Limited (RCFL) and Fertiliser Corporation of India Limited (FCIL), at an estimated investment of Rs 13,000 crore.

The project will have an output of 1.27 million metric tonnes per annum of neem-coated prilled urea using coal and petcoke as feedstock. The plant is targeted to be commissioned by 2022.

It will produce 2.38 million metric standard cubic metre per day natural gas equivalent syngas from coal leading to reduction in import bill of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) by more than Rs 1,620 crore per annum. The coal gasification-based ammonia urea complex being set up at Talcher will have a design capacity of 2,200 tonnes per day (TPD) of ammonia and 3,850TPD of urea. It will also produce 100TPD of sulphur flakes as a saleable by-product.

The gasification process to be adopted at Talcher unit will be a clean coal technology. Officials said nearly 10,000 people were expected to get jobs during the construction period, and over 4,000 direct or indirect employment opportunities would be created once it became operational.

The Talcher plant was set up in 1970, but operations were closed in 2002.

Modi also inaugurated Jharsuguda airport. Besides, the maiden flight under the UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik) scheme from Jharsuguda to Raipur was also flagged off on Saturday.

The project has been developed at a cost of Rs 210 crore, officials said. Now, the airport provides connectivity between Bhubaneswar, Raipur and Ranchi and other parts of the country in subsequent phases.

Union minister of commerce and industry, civil aviation Suresh Prabhu said: “In the past two years, 56 new airports, 36 helipads have been built, and there is a target to set up new 100 airports at an investment of 65 billion dollars in the next 15 years.”

Modi also dedicated the Garjanbahal open cast project of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) located in Sundargarh district having coal block reserve of 230 million tonnes. He also inaugurated 53.1-km-long Jharsuguda-Serdega rail tracks constructed with an estimated investment of Rs 1,124 crore by MCL.