State-owned Industrial Development Corporation ltd (IDCO) has written to the Government of India’s Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals (DoCPC) to speed up the mega PCPIR (petroleum, chemicals and petrochemicals investment region) project at Paradip,
The implementation of PCPIR hub is on the slow lane as the Indian Oil Corporation limited (IOCl), the anchor tenant for the project, is yet to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the State Government.Signing of such a pact is key to attracting investments from petrochemicals sectors, IDCO sources said.
“Recently in March 2014, the IOCl announced setting up of a 700-KTA polypropylene unit, which is expected to be commissioned in 42 months’ time.
“It is strongly felt that unless there is a firm commitment with timelines from the IOCl on the provisioning of feedstock for the petrochemical downstream units and development of a roadmap for requisite infrastructure, attracting investments seems to be uncertain,” IDCO CMD Vishal Dev has written to the DoCPC Joint Secretary.Dev has said that with the present level of commitment from the IOCl, development of a greenfield PCPIR at Paradip would be a nonstarter and it would be difficult to justify developmental works and land acquisition activities for the PCPIR project by the State Government.
Stating that the success of the project is unlikely without a firm support from the IOCl, Dev has approached the DoCPC to take up the issue with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG).Notably, the IOCl had committed to set up a 15-million tonne refinery and petrochemicals complex at Paradip at an estimated cost of Rs55,000 crore. The project would be set up in a 284.15-sqkm (70,214 acres) area spread over Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada districts.
The project would create employment for 6,48,000 people which includes direct employment for 2,27,000 people and indirect employment for 4,41,000 others.