Cabinet Nod Sought For Assam Gas Cracker

The Rs 4,500-crore Reliance Assam gas cracker project proposal has been tabled before the Union cabinet for final clearance and is likely to be discussed this week, according to Assam Chief Minister P K Mahanta.

The project is a joint venture between the Assam state government and Reliance Industries. While the Dhirubhai Ambani-controlled petrochemicals giant plans to take a 40 per cent stake in the project after its clearance, the state government will acquire 11 per cent of the equity. The remaining 49 per cent equity will be offered to the public.

However, as Mahanta pointed out: There are some outstanding issues which need to be resolved. These include the ownership of the air separation plant, the pipeline linkages of the raw material and the choice of raw material.

 

Even though the project was conceived more than six years ago, it has been stalled ever since due to differences between the Central government and the joint sector consortium regarding various techno-economic issues. One area of dissension between the parties relates to ownership and management of the air separation plant which is an integral part of the project. While Reliance feels the plant should be part of the project, the government has proposed separate ownership.

Besides, the actual capacity to be installed has also been a bone of contention. Reliance has taken the stance that the capacity should be beyond 3,00,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) to make the project commercially viable.