FACT to restart plants from next month

Kochi, Feb 25 (UNI) Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd (FACT) has decided to restart all the plants, including caprolactum and ammonium sulphate, closed down last year due to raw material paucity, from March 15.

Action had already been initiated to procure raw materials for a smooth start-up. With the expected release of the interim grant by the Centre by the middle of next month, the working capital position will also ease to facilitate continuous production, a release from FACT said here today.

As part of its diversification plans, FACT was planning to lay the foundation stone for the FACT-RCF joint venture for gypsum building products by the end of March this year.

The company was also planning to deal in traded fertilisers in a big way during the year with a target of about 250,000 tonne. Two shipments of urea were expected during April-May, 2008.

It also had set an ambitious target of selling 50,000 tonne of gypsum per month.

The company's plans to set up a bottled drinking water plant and a skills development academy were also being speeded up, it said.

A proposal to set up a container freight station at Udyogmandal alongside the international container transshipment terminal would be put up to the board at its next meeting, the release added.

UNI ARC AJ 1751