Dharmendra Pradhan urges Odisha CM to speed up land acquisition for IOCL

Worried over delay in allotment of land to Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) for putting up new plants, Union minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan has written to the Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to expedite the matter.

It may be noted that IOCL is in the process of finalising Rs 400 billion of investments in new projects in Odisha such as PC (polypropylene complex)/PTA (purified terephthalic acid) project, petcoke gasification based projects and refinery capacity expansion project from 15 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 25 mtpa at Paradip. Besides, IOCL is also participating in the textile park proposed at Bhadrak.

The oil marketing major is following up with the Odisha government for allotment of land to implement these new facilities.

“It is rather unfortunate and discouraging that the Odisha government has not allotted the required land yet for the said projects”, rued Pradhan in his letter.

Interestingly, the state government has carried out road shows in several countries about the upcoming petrochemicals projects in Odisha to create awareness about these projects and invited potential investors in plastic and textile industry.

“In contrast, IOCL, which has offered to invest in various petrochemical projects is not getting timely response and cooperation”, wrote the Union minister.

He also mentioned in the letter about planning by Taiwan’s state-owned petroleum firm CPC Corporation's plan to invest Rs 430 billion for green-field petrochemical projects in Paradip.

Pointing out that the proposed investments by CPC and Indian Oil would not only contribute to the state’s economy but also lead to direct and indirect employment generation for the youths of the state, Pradhan requested the chief minister to direct the concerned authorities suitably in this regard.