No communication with staff at Indian plant in Oman

Cyclone Gonu which hit Oman's east coast leaving a trail of destruction of property and leading to power cuts and telecom disruptions has cut off all communication with the $1 billion Oman India urea plant.

The $969 million project is the largest Indian investment abroad. It has been raining off and on in Sur with strong winds felt by residents.

Omifco, a joint venture between Oman and India to produce urea, located at Sur, which has been hit by the cyclone, has stopped production since Thursday morning.

Diplomatic sources said there have been yet to establish contact with the officials of the plant since the area has been cut off from capital Muscat as the road has been damaged and the total breakdown of mobile and land telephone network.

"We have just kept skeleton staff at the plant and rest have been sent home," Deepak G Inamdar, a senior engineer at the plant had told Gulf News over phone from Sur on Wednesday.

Omifco is a joint venture company established in Oman, whose shareholders are Oman Oil Company (50 per cent), Krishak Bharati Cooperative Ltd (25 per cent), and Indian Farmers Fertilisers Cooperative Ltd (25 per cent).

Under the various agreements, the government of India and IFFCO would buy the entire urea and surplus ammonia production at a pre-agreed price for 15 years and 10 years respectively.

The planned production of the project is 1.65 million megatonnes of granulated urea and 250,000 megatonnes of surplus ammonia per year.