The North Dakota Corn Growers Association created Northern Plains Nitrogen in order to provide a large source of nitrogen fertilizer to growers in the region and to establish a foothold in the industry. In May 2013 the group announced plans for the $1.7 billion Northern Plains Nitrogen project with construction to begin in 2015/16 and a start to production scheduled for 2017. Financing of the project is planned to be provided by $1 billion in debt and $700 million in equity investments. Northern Plains has signed a tentative agreement with Chinese state-owned Chengda, an engineering company with experience in the fertilizer business, to be a cornerstone investor in the project. A group of officials from Chengda came to Bismarck, North Dakota to sign the tentative agreement and travelled to Grand Forks to visit the site of the proposed facility.
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