KOCHI: The Indian Oil Corporation’s upcoming LPG import terminal project at Puthuvype is too strategic an investment to discard, says P S Mony, chief general manager, IOC. While IOC has been able to obtain all clearances, long-drawn protests and indecision on the part of the state government have pushed the Rs 715-crore project into uncertainty.
"We had a review meeting with all the stakeholders on Tuesday, with the government declaring its full support to make the project viable. Since the IOC has already invested over Rs 350 crore, we are committed to seeing it through," said Mony.
IOC stressed the importance of the terminal pointing to the 10 per cent of the annual growth of LPG demand in Kerala, its ability to provide quality job opportunities to the youth in the state and Kerala's standing in the ease of doing business index, which needs to be improved.
On the issue of safety, about 125 tanker trucks carrying LPG from Mangaluru enter Kerala on a daily basis for distribution at its three bottling plants in Kozhikode, Kochi and Kollam. "When the Puthuvype plant and the proposed Kochi-Salem LPG pipeline starts functioning, we can take 90 tankers off the road destined for the Kochi, Kozhikode plants and despatch the rest of the 35 units to Kollam from Kochi itself," said Mony.
IOC has requested the government - once the Puthuvype project becomes functional - for sanctions for a pipeline from Kozhikode to Palakkad and from Kochi to Kollam, which will further ease the LPG distribution process and avoid the transportation of bulk LPG through the congested roads of Kerala.
The LPG import terminal has two major facilities, the multi-user liquid terminal jetty for unloading LPG at Cochin Port and the storage terminal at Puthuvype. The state government is also expected to earn around Rs 300 crore per annum in taxes when the terminal operates at full capacity.
IOC also announced the availability of three state-of-the-art emergency response vehicles (ERV) in all three of its bottling plants, helping it to respond without delay to LPG emergencies in southern, central and northern Kerala and be self-reliant in handling such cases.
In its commitment to the environment, health and safety, IOC reported having achieved the milestone of ISO certifications 14001 & OHSAS 18001 and certification ISO 50001 – Energy Management System.