atlwireles: The Managing Director of Indorama Eleme Petrochemical Limited Mr Manish Mundra has said that the companies US$1.2 billion dollars Fertilizer Project is on course.
According to the latest edition of the companies in-house magazine Indorama-Nigeria IMPACT Magazine, Mr Mundra said; “we were able to put together a massive US$1.2 billion dollars for our fertilizer project and our Chairman, Mr. S.P. Lohia was here in April to perform the ground-breaking. Since then, the construction of the plant has been going on as planned.”
The ground-breaking took place on the 11th of April 2013 and the project is expected to be ready in the fourth quarter of 2015 with production starting in the first quarter of 2016.
Mr Mundra disclosed that indorama is already constructing an 83 kilometre gas pipeline to fetch gas to the fertilizer plant while an export jetty is also being constructed at the Onne port to facilitate evacuation of the products.
Mr Mundra also stated that the fertilizers would be of high quality, yet cheaper for farmers thereby helping them to improve their agricultural yields and that the project would help to revolutionalise agriculture and help to fight food security in the country. According to the magazine, the M.D. also stated that the fertilizer plant would help the government stop importation of the product which gulps huge foreign exchange every year and also enhance food security and create employment opportunities for teeming Nigerian graduates who need jobs.
The companies website revealed that $800million dollars of the $1.2 billion dollars would be financed by lenders while $400 million dollars was in equity. Financial partners involved in the $800 million loan are the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Standard Chartered, African Development Bank (AfDB), Africa Export Import Bank, Bank of India, KFW and DEG of Germany, Commonwealth Development Corporation, FMO Entrepreneurial Development Bank, Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund, United Bank for Africa, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank and Access Bank.
Indorama Eleme Fertilizer and Chemicals Limited Nigeria (IEFCL), which is West Africa’s largest polyolefins producer, is providing equity of $400 million dollars for the project.
The companies website also revealed that Global TOYO Engineering of Japan would be handling the construction work, and the project would be the world’s largest single-stream gas-to-urea plant which has capacity for 1.4 million metric tons of urea serving both domestic and export market.
The Singapore-headquartered Indorama Corporation, the holding company of the Indorama group, has 45 manufacturing sites across 20 countries around the world. It is also the second largest producer of nitrile rubber gloves. The $10 billion dollars Indorama Corporation is owned by an Indian family, with industrialist S.P. Lohia as its chairman.
Indorama Corporation, which has over 20,000 employees, started with the establishment of a spun yarn manufacturing plant in Indonesia by S.P. Lohia in 1976. The group is a global manufacturer of polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester fibre, filament and spun yarns, fabrics, and medical gloves. Its products are shipped to over 90 countries across four continents.

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/01/