KOCHI: THE Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the sale of 481.79 acres of FACT land at Ambalamedu in Kochi to the state government, setting the ball rolling for the Rs 1,200-crore Petrochemical Park project, nearly four years after it was first conceived.
As per the decision, 150 acres of land at the rate of `1 crore per acre (in lieu, the state government agreed to give freehold right over 143.22 acres of land to FACT) and remaining 331.79 acres at Rs 2.4758 crore per acre as assessed by the Ernakulam District Collector will be handed over.
The proceeds from the sale will help the loss-making FACT to “address working capital deficiency, improvement of balance sheet and enabling the company to enhance physical and financial performance by implementing capacity expansion projects for sustainable growth of the company,” said an official statement. The Centre’s approval will help FACT to reduce the bank borrowings and implement projects for enhancing fertiliser-production capacity and upgrading logistics and raw material handling facilities.
FACT’s revival will create opportunities for expansion and diversification of the company and, in turn, help generate more jobs, directly and indirectly.
The Petrochemical Park, being implemented by the Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Kinfra), is expected to come up in the next 2-3 years, after the development of basic infrastructure, said Kinfra MD K A Santhosh Kumar.
“It’ll take 3-6 months for the land transfer to happen after all the payment modalities, and another two years for the basic infrastructure development.”
The official added the Petchem Park is KIIFB’s project and the entire payment will be made by the funding agency.
Santhosh Kumar said of the 481.79 acres, BPCL-Kochi has been allotted 170 acres for the PSU oil company’s Polyols project.
An official with BPCL-Kochi said the Polyols project, which when commissioned, will provide raw material for chemical products. “Polyols project is the BPCL’s petrochemical’s second phase. Its first phase will be completed in December this year and the project by 2022-end,” said the BPCL official.
