$625m Jordanian-Indian project to start in 2nd half of 2010
JPMC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Walid Kurdi (centre) shakes hands with a representative of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. after signing an agreement on Thursday.

AMMAN - Implementation of a $625 million Jordanian-Indian project for manufacturing phosphoric acid will start in the second half of 2010, the Jordan Phosphate Mines Company (JPMC) announced Saturday.

The JPMC said it has signed an agreement last Thursday with SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., an engineering and construction group, to implement the project, owned by Jordan India Fertiliser Company (JIFCO).

JIFCO is a joint venture between the JPMC and Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd. (IFFCO) which is owned by 40,000 farmers’ cooperative societies with a membership base of 50 million farmers in India.

JPMC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Walid Kurdi told The Jordan Times Saturday that the project is one of the ventures by the JPMC to expand the production of phosphoric acid and other fertilisers demand on which is largely growing across the world due to their importance to the agricultural sector.

The project, located in Maan Governorate, about 330 kilometres to the south of the capital, will start commercial operation late 2012, according to Kurdi.

The project entails creating a plant for sulphuric acid with a capacity of 4,500 tonnes per day (tpd) and a phosphoric acid plant with a capacity of 1,500 tpd, in addition to facilities.

It will create 2,000 jobs in the construction phase and 800 direct jobs and 1,000 indirect jobs when the plant goes operational, according to the owners.

The project is also expected to earn the Kingdom about $300 million in export revenues annually.

SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. began as a small Montreal engineering consulting office, opened by Arthur Surveyer in 1911. Growing steadily over the years, this original counsulting office built a solid reputation for excellence across Canada in the civil engineering and power sectors, and was one of the first to venture into the new field of industrial plant design, according to the group's website.

2 May 2010

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