Assam gas cracker plant ceremony postponed

Officials have indefinitely postponed the foundation stone laying ceremony of Assam Gas Cracker project, land acquisition for which is only half complete.

"The prime minister was to lay the foundation stone of the plant promoted by state-run GAIL (India) Ltd on April 7. But the ceremony is off as of now," a government source said.

Only about half of the nearly 1,400 acres of land for the project at Lepetkata in Dibrugarh district of Assam has been acquired and officials are wary of any controversy, particularly in light of recent Nandigram experience.

The West Bengal government was forced to shift a chemical plant from Nandigram following violent protests over land acquisition.

GAIL holds 70 per cent interest in the Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymers, the joint venture company implementing the project. The remaining 30 per cent equity is shared equally among Oil India Ltd (OIL), Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) and Assam.

The project is to be completed in 60 months from the date of financial closure. Sources said the Prime Minister may give a new date for the foundation stone laying function once all necessary approvals for land acquisition are in place.

OIL is to supply 6 million standard cubic meters per day of gas from its Duliajan field to the petrochemical complex.

Oil and Natural Gas Corp will supply 1.35 mmscmd gas for the plant till March 31, 2012 and 1 mmscnd thereafter. The plant shall also utilise 160,000 tons per annum of petrochemical grade Naphtha from NRL.