Mitsubishi Arm To Undertake Epc For Haldia Pta Project
Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation of Japan has roped in Mitsubishi Heavy Industry (MHI) to undertake the engineering-procurement-construction of the Rs 1,600-crore purified terepthalic acid (PTA) project coming up in Haldia, West Bengal, on a turnkey basis.
The promoters have floated a domestic outfit, Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation PTA India, in which they hold 95 per cent stake.
The balance 5 per cent will be held by the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC).
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The company has projected a turnover of Rs 980 crore ($280 million) a year while its targeted exports will be to the tune of Rs 245 crore ($70 million).
Mitsubishi Heavy Industry plans to start the construction work at the 300-acre land after the monsoons, as the project has already been cleared by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) and the Cabinet Committee for Economic Affairs (CCEA).
The land has partly been acquired under the state land acquisition Act and partly from West Bengal Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation.
The total land requirement for the proposed project is nearly 500 acres.
Sources said the project has picked up momentum and the promoters will be able to meet the 1999-end deadline for commissioning the project.
It is believed that the Japanese are especially bullish on the project as the PTA prices world-wide have picked up substantially, after the last year's downward trend. The upswing is expected to continue till the commissioning of the plant, the sources said.
Being a capital intensive industry, the project will open up employment for nearly 600 persons.
The Japanese promoters were initially interested in having an Indian joint venture partner for this projects and had begun negotiations with the Raymond group, it was learnt. However, since talks were inconclusive, the global conglomerate decided to go it alone.
The plant will have a capacity of 3.5 lakh tonnes a year of which two lakh tonnes could be routed to the domestic market.
It is planned that one-third of the product will be sent to the raw material supplier from South-east Asia on a buy-back arrangement. Mitsubishi will source its main raw materials, paraxylene and acetic acid, from the South-east Asian supplier, too.