The ministry for petroleum and natural gas has told Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) to submit a proposal to the government within a week in case it wants to implement the Rs 6,562 crore Bina refinery project in Madhya Pradesh.
During a presentation to the ministry on Thursday, BPCL had said that it was capable of putting up the refinery on its own in case the joint venture partner Oman Oil Company (OOC) withdraws.
The state-owned BPCL had said it could easily generate Rs 3,000 crore for the refinery, and if around Rs 700 crore could be made available to it from the Oil Industry Development Fund (OIDF), there would be no problem in financing the project.
While discussing OOC's reluctance to invest further in the equity of the refinery project, BPCL said it planned to go ahead with the refinery on its own. BPCL was also of the view that once the project had made good headway, OOC might like to join in then, The ministry made it clear that time had come for BPCL to take some hard decisions regarding the implementation of the beleaguered refinery, which has been hanging fire for more than six years.
The ministry said while earlier one could explain the delay in the implementation of the project, arguing that the required environmental clearances had not been received, now there could be no such excuse since all clearances have come in.
0Minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Santosh Kumar Gangwar, who is taking an active interest in the implementation of the refinery, said the people of the area were getting restive and the project could not be delayed further.
The project was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in December 1995 at an estimated cost of Rs 5,277 crore.
