HPL to invest Rs 4,000 cr on eight projects in WB

Parivartan (change) is finally knocking on the doors of industrial West Bengal too. Bouyed by the “fresh hope” pumped in by the new the Trinamool Congress-led government, the Eastern India’s largest petrochemical company Haldia Petrochemicals (HPL) is planning to invest about Rs 4,000 crore in eight projects. The Chatterjee Group (TCG) — one of the promoters who is fighting a legal battle with the West Bengal government over shareholding pattern — has also said that the group is also ready for an out-of-the-court settlement.

“The change of guard in the state is allowing us to think about many new things. A fresh hope is there in terms of our dealing with the state, the new government wants to take actions quickly. Haldia is important in their agenda, that’s why I am here. We are planning to invest Rs 4,000 crore in eight different projects over a period of three to three-and-a-half years once it gets started,” said Purnendu Chatterjee, The Chatterjee Group (TCG) chairman and Vice-Chairman of HPL.

For the projects — which include butin, ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM), styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) and maleic anhydride — the company will look for private equity (PE) partners at a debt equity ratio of 1.5:1. Chatterjee said that for financial tie ups, a clarity is needed in the ownership structure of the company and will have to wait for sometime for the issue to be solved. “Some of the new project would be in partnership with technology providers and we are doing the initial ground works for it,” he said.

However, Chatterjee also hinted about an out-of-the-court settlement with the state government in the ongoing ownership tussle. “It’s upon them. We are open for an out-of-the-court settlement the next day only. There was a communication gap with the Left Front government. No matter what the outcome of the settlement will be, we will work together with the new government with a desire to solve all the problems,” he said. The TCG group chairman also met the state Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh to discuss with himj about the development plans.

Plans three poly parks in Bengal
HPL, the flagship of industrial resurgence in Bengal, is also planning to set up three poly parks in the state soon.

“The poly parks would be in 100 acres each at Haldia, Panagarh and Kharagpur. We want to enhance our new solution marketing initiative through these poly parks. These will be three separate companies. We have already written a letter to the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) regarding this. It’s upon the industrial policy of the new government on whether they want to participate in this projects,” he said.

While the Haldia poly park will be mainly for chemicals in liquid stream which is difficult to get transported, the Panagarh and Kharagpur units will be for plastic to other products. HPL Managing Director Partha Bhattacharyya said the projects will start once negotiations are over with WBIDC.