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Essar Oil's Jamnagar refinery has been given a clean chit by the committee of experts set up by ICICI to look into the viability of the project.

The committee said the Rs 7,356 crore project cost for the 12 million tonnes per annum refinery was reasonable and comparable with the project cost of other refineries in India. Institutions could consider giving the company a bridge loan to implement the project to avoid further delays, said members.

Since the induction of a strategic partner is a time-consuming process, the implementation should not be held up till the finalisation of the partner and institutions could consider extending further assistance in the interim period, said the committee.

The committee also agreed that the expansion of the plant's capacity from 10.5 million tonnes to 12 million tonnes would enhance the project's viability and should progress along with the implementation of the refinery.

The committee included M Prakash, former project director, Engineers India Ltd; V K Raina, former marketing director of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd; J Jayraman, former chairman and managing director, Cochin Refineries Ltd, A J A Tauro, former chairman of Indian Oil Corporation and A N Saxena, former joint secretary in the government.

Acknowledging that the report has been submitted to ICICI, S Mukherji, senior general manager, said on its implementation: "It is a complex issue. We have to study the report carefully. We are talking to all the stakeholders." ICICI sources said it has set a one-month schedule for implementation of some of the recommendations.

The committee pointed out that the proposed implementation of the project in 16 to 18 months should be the outer limit and efforts should be made to shorten it.