Land policy for petro-chem units being revised: Official

The central government will be coming out with several amendments to the Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) policy in the next six months to attract large-scale investment.

"We are planning to bring in several changes and revise the PCPIR policy. The timeframe we have in mind for it is within the next six months," joint secretary in the ministry of chemicals and fertilisers Avinash Joshi told media persons here on the sidelines of an event organised by Indian Chamber of Commerce.

Among the several changes proposed, Joshi said the revision would bring down the previous land requirement of 250 square km to a mere 50 square km.

"Many states are having problems with the area required under the current PCPIR norms and that is why it will be brought down," he reasoned.

Other changes may include provision for financial support, single-window clearances and additional anchor tenant.

However, Joshi did not give details about the proposed revisions.

The official said this policy has been in-vogue since 2007 but it did not take off well. "However, we are optimistic about the proposed changes," he said.

Joshi said the policy would benefit states having considerable coastline and Kerala, Maharashtra and Karnataka have shown interest to implement trading regions under PCPIR.

"Others like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab are also interested but we have to undertake the feasibility report before giving any nod," he said.

Joshi said while coastal states will be the priority; the aforesaid feasibility study has to be undertaken for land-locked states.

The PCPIR is a combination of production units, public utilities, logistics, environmental protection mechanisms, residential areas and administrative services.

"It would have a processing area, where the manufacturing facilities, alongwith associated logistics and other services, and required infrastructure will be located, and a non-processing area, to include residential, commercial and other social and institutional infrastructure," he said.

The minimum processing area for the PCPIR will be about 40 percent of the total designated area, that is around 100 sq km. The processing area may or may not be contiguous.

As per the existing policy, the central government would ensure the availability of external physical infrastructure linkages to PCPIRs which includes rail, road, ports, airports and telecom connectivity in a time bound manner.

The official said while a template to revise the existing policy is under consideration, different states have their own set of issues.