Criticisms of urea plant ‘regrettable’

Press, 4 October 1979, Page 3

Criticisms of urea plant ‘regrettable’

PA Wellington The comments of the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Rowling) on the proi posed ammonia-urea plant in | Taranaki showed he had r. t been kept up to date about I the project, said Petrocorp’s group general manager (Mr R. J. Hogg) yesterday. It was regrettable that Mr Rowling had strongly criticised the project without the information freely available from Petrocorp, said Mr I Hogg. If Mr Rowlings advisers I had approached Petrocorp, I they would have been given information which could i have corrected some evident misconceptions, he said.

“The contention that ttie ammonia-urea plant which we have ordered is secondhand has again and again been proved false.” The ammonia plant had been already partly manufactured in the "United States. The technology in-

corporated in the plant was acknowledged to be the most modern available for a plant of the size proposed, said Mr Hogg. A lot had been spent to reduce to a minimum environmental pollution, particularly that from noise and liquid effluents. The plant would include “the most extensive environmental controls available in the world today.” By purchasing the unused ammonia plant that was available for almost immediate shipment at a very favourable price, the country was able to make substantial savings and greatly reduce the lead time from engineering to start-up, he said. “We expect a return on our investment well in excess of 10 per cent after tax,” said Mr Hogg. “This return is expected even if the surplus urea available in the early years of the plant’s life could not be exported.

"However, we expect to sell our produce competitively both in New Zealand and overseas and much higher rates of return could be achieved. “We have to be competitive as the Government has made it very clear that the project is to proceed with no promise of protection from competition against imported nitrogenous fertilisers other than in terms of anti-dumping legislation,” Mr Hogg said. Mr Rowling, however, has continued his attack on what he said was a lack of information about Petrocorp’s ammonia-urea project.

He said last evening that Mr Hogg’s statement did nothing to answer the basic questions that had accumulated about the Taranaki project. There was still no specific information on where new markets would be found, and arguments about the project’s use of the urea in New Zealand had still not been answered, Mr Rowling said.

“The Labour Party has made persistent efforts to get information on the project, from both the Minister and his under-secretary,” he Said. It was the lack of ready information, and the defensiveness of the Minister about the whole project that confirmed the party’s concern, Mr Rowling said.