Jinxed Nalanda Ordnance Factory to get operational by July end

 

 

Finally a big boost towards achieving self-reliance in artillery ammunition, the jinxed Nalanda Ordnance Factory that got delayed by 13 years owing to the blacklisting of two foreign vendors will be operational by July end without any foreign collaborator.

 

The 13 year delay has resulted in cost overrun of Rs. 628.87 crore. After two of successive foreign firms – South African Denel and Israeli Munitions Industries (IMI) – got banned following corruption charges, the Ordnance Factory Board decided to go ahead alone to set up the factory will five units to manufacture the ammunition for 155 mm Bofors artillery guns in service with the Indian Army.

“After IMI got blacklisted in 2009, the situation was precarious for us. We decided to set up the plant on the basis of the technology procured from Denel in 2002 to produce the Bi-modular charge system (BMCS),” sources said.

The present plant will be able to churn out right lakh rounds per year. However, the Army has also projected an increase in its requirements in the future to 16 lakh rounds per annum in view of a massive artillery modernization programme envisaged by the force. Keeping this in mind approval has come up for setting up another plant in the vicinity to double the capacity of the factory.

It was in 1999 when George Fernandes was the defence minister that the sanction was given for setting up the ammunition factory in Nalanda, Bihar keeping in mind the need of two lakh rounds of ammunition required by the Army annually to keep its 155mm artillery guns booming.

The Defence Ministry signed contract with Denel in 2002 to procure 4 lakh rounds of ammunition that envisaged transfer of technology for indigenous production of the propellant at a license fee of Rs.68.44 crore. By the time Denel was banned in 2005, the documents for transfer of technology were supplied and payment was made.

The Defence Ministry then concluded a contract for this BMCS plant with IMI in March 2009 at a total cost of Rs 1175 crore. It had also paid an advance of Rs. 174 crore. However, the company got under scanner for allegedly giving kickbacks to Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) chief and the project again got stalled.