The Odisha government has urged the Government of India to provide budgetary support to Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) for financing the capital cost of the PCPIR (petroleum, chemicals and petrochemicals investment region) hub in the state and seek FDI (foreign direct investment) if necessary, for developing the hub.
The demand was raised by the state finance minister Pradip Amat at the pre-Budget meeting of state finance ministers convened by the central finance ministry.
IOCL, the anchor tenant for the PCPIR hub, is setting up 15 million tonne oil refinery at Paradeep that is expected to start commercial operation by March 2015.
“IOCL, the anchor tenant has still not firmed up its plans for a petrochemical complex because of which PCPIR has been a non-starter. Such an industrial complex will not only provide employment but also generate a string of economic activities to generate revenue for the state,” Amat said in his speech at the meeting.
In a recent statement to the Rajya Sabha, Union minister of state for petroleum & natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan said that no government funding has been provided to IOCL for part financing the capital cost of PCPIR.
IOCL’s oil refinery holds the key to development of the PCPIR hub planned across 284 sq km in Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts.
The refinery and the petrochemical complex to come up later, will be part of the projects in the PCPIR hub that is expected to attract investments to the tune of Rs 2.74 lakh crore.
Of the expected overall investment figure of Rs 2.74 lakh crore, the lion’s share of Rs 2.3 lakh crore would come from the petroleum and petrochemicals sectors followed by housing and allied infrastructure at Rs 23,500 crore, external infrastructure at Rs 13,634 crore and Rs 3,500 crore each for chemicals & fertilisers and ancillary sectors.
While IOCL went ahead with its refinery project, it had kept in abeyance the petrochemical complex, citing financial constraints.
Last month, Pradhan had laid the foundation stone for IOCL’s polypropylene (PP) plant (part of the petrochemical complex) at Paradip. The PP plant is expected to cost Rs 3,150 crore while the entire petrochemical complex involves an investment of Rs 27,000 crore.
Meanwhile, the Odisha government has also requested the Centre to expedite approval for the proposed IT investment region (ITIR) in the state and earmark funds for the project in the Union Budget.
“Our proposal for establishment of an ITIR with an outlay of Rs 3,700 crore and central assistance of Rs 1,750 crore as per the ITIR policy of the Government of India is yet to be approved by the Ministry of Communication and IT. We have also been approaching the Government of India for setting up of a greenfield electronics manufacturing cluster in the Infovalley area in the state,” Amat said.
The ITIR is to be developed on an area of 40 sq km (around 10,000 acres) between Bhubaneswar and Khurda. The implementation of the proposed ITIR will involve a cost of Rs 17,883 crore.
The region would generate jobs for 0.23 million people and accommodate a population of around 0.54 million. More than 75 per cent of the investment will be made on the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
