Idco seeks govt nod to sign MoU with IOCL

Pact aimed at chalking roadmap for petrochemical complex at Paradeep

The state’s nodal agency for land acquisition and infrastructure development, Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) has sought the nod of the state government to execute a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL).

The pact’s objective is to chalk out a roadmap for development of a petrochemical complex at Paradip. The petrochemical complex, to be set up by IOCL, is a part of the PCPIR (petroleum, chemicals and petrochemicals investment region) hub.

The PCPIR hub is planned across an area of 284 sq km straddling the coastal districts of Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara.

IOCL, which is setting up a 15 million tonne per annum (mtpa) oil refinery at Paradip apart from the petrochemical complex, is the anchor tenant for the PCPIR hub. The proposed MoU with Idco will formally spell out the role of IOCL as anchor tenant. The delay in signing of this MoU has pushed the petrochemical complex to the back foot.

The decision to sign the anchor tenant pact with IOCL was taken at a recent review meeting of the senior officers' working group constituted by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas.

Since Idco is also the nodal agency of the Odisha government for PCPIR, it was decided that it would execute the MoU with IOCL.

Accordingly, a draft MoU has been prepared in consultation with IOCL.

At the proposed petrochemicals complex of IOCL, Rs 3,150 crore would be invested on the polypropylene unit, Rs 4,000 crore on monoethylene glycol unit, Rs 10,000 crore on paraxylene PTA (purified terephthalic acid) unit and Rs 18,000 crore on petcoke gasification plant.

Union minister of state for petroleum & natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan recently laid the foundation stone for the Rs 3,150 crore polypropylene unit at Paradip. The unit is expected to be commissioned in three years.

The 15 mtpa refinery of IOCL, also at Paradip, is expected to go on stream by early 2015. The oil major has already invested Rs 34,000 crore on the project, out of the total project cost of Rs 37,000 crore.

The refinery and the petrochemical complex 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.