4-yr delay in Barmer refinery project led to more loss: Gehlot

Congress leader Ashok Gehlot today said the four-year delay in Barmer refinery project has led to losses which is far more than Rs 40,000 crore, an amount the BJP government claims to have saved by revising the MoU.
State oil firm HPCL and the Rajasthan government had yesterday inked a revised MoU of Rs 43,129 crore for an oil refinery in Barmer district which will produce BS-VI fuel.
Under the new terms and conditions, the refinery cost has come down to Rs 16,845 crore, which was Rs 56,040 crore in the previous MoU done by the Congress government in 2013,Union Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had said.

Speaking to mediapersons today, Gehlot said, "There has been revenue loss for the state, delay in employment generation and business loss. The refinery project would have provided a lot of benefits if the work had commenced four years ago."
"The delay has benefitted Gujarat of Rs 1,500 crore in VAT every year," the former chief minister said, adding the loss to Rajasthan in four years is more than what the BJP government has saved by revising the MoU.
The delay has resulted in losses and the people of the state will not spare the BJP for it, he said.

Gehlot said, "The Union minister was here to announce the revised MoU, but he did not explain how Rs 40,000 crore was saved after renegotiation."

"He did not mention when the project will start making profits. The Union minister should have made the contents of the MoU public," he said.
"Instead of misleading people by presenting partial facts, the minister should direct the HPCL to get the both MoUs investigated to let the truth come out, Gehlot said.
"From the revised MoU it is unclear what the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) will be. When the MoU was inked during the Congress rule, RRI was 15 per cent. If the RRI is less in the revised MoU then the state will earn less profit," the Congress leader said.