Balmer Lawrie Plans Lpg Handling Facility

The project, with an investment plan of Rs 150 crore, will have to be cleared by the ministry of agriculture and ministry of surface transport. CPT has sought such a clearance after an in-principle agreement with Balmer Lawrie.

Balmer Lawrie planned the project following central governments decision to import six million tonnes of LPG annually to bolster the stocks. Facilities for storing, loading and unloading LPG have already been set up in Mumbai and Kandla ports.

Balmer Lawrie has chosen Roychak for a similar facility in the eastern region, where around half a million tonnes of LPG will be imported annually.

 

This will supplement the Haldia project to handle about 1 lakh tonnes of LPG a year. Though a jetty is available at the Haldia port for handling operations, pipelines will have to be laid. The Haldia project is believed to have been taken up by Indian Oil Corporation, Caltex (IBP) and Aegis Chemicals of Mumbai.

The proposed jetty at Roychak will intially handle about one lakh tonnes of imported LPG which may go up to two lakh tonnes in due course.

The 108-acre project site is ideal for the construction of a jetty to handle LPG parcel loads. The site also has a separate jetty for fishing activities. This piece of land is currently lying idle as the State Fishery Development Corpora-tion has failed to utilise the area under it.

CPT acquired the land in 1980 and built a fishing jetty on the request of the Union ministry of agriculture. CPT had paid Rs 3 crore of which Rs 2 crore has been reimbursed by the agriculture ministry. Taking into account the cost of maintenance till date amounting to Rs 1 crore, the CPT is yet to recover Rs 2 crore.

Balmer Lawrie wants the piece of land where the current jetty will remain undisturbed and a new one constructed for handling LPG tankers. A storage facility on 50 acres will be built outside the designated area and linked with underground pipelines from the jetty.

Balmer Lawrie has already applied for the land from the West Bengal Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (WBIIDC).

At Roychak, the Ganga has a draught of eight meters for which vessels of 10,000 dwt can make a call at the jetty. Parcel load of LPG will be 5000 to 6,000 tonnes per vessel. Initially 20 vessles can dock in at the Roychak jetty per year, unloadng about 1 lakh tonnes of LPG.

After the deputy controller of explosives okayed the project, construction of a jetty 300 meters from the existing one was suggested for exclusively handling LPG. An environment impact and risk anaysis study have already been made. Since the land technically belongs to the ministry of agriculture, CPT has sought clearance from the ministry.