NEW DELHI: Public sector giants Coal India Limited (CIL) and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) on Wednesday signed a joint venture (JV) agreement for setting up an ammonium nitrate plant based on surface coal gasification technology, the Coal Ministry announced on Wednesday. The plant to come up in Odisha’s Lakhanpur area of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited, will initially produce 2,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate per day. The annual production is slated at 6.60 lakh tonnes which requires 1.3 million tonnes (mts) of coal. The coal will be supplied by CIL. The upcoming plant’s backward integration would help in securing the raw material, reducing import dependence of ammonium nitrate. Coal Secretary Amrit Lal Meena said with the commitment of CIL and BHEL, this project will be a role model.