Allot land for Indian Oil projects: Pradhan to Odisha CM

The Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas stated that the Odisha government hasn't paid any attention to the requests made by IOCL for setting up new projects in the state.

Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan

BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to allot required land for the new projects of Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) in Paradip and Bhadrak.

Writing to the Chief Minister, Pradhan said IOCL is in the process of finalising Rs 40,000 crore investments in new projects such as paraxylene/purified terephthalic acid (PX/PTA) project, petcoke gasification based projects and refinery capacity expansion project at Paradip. Besides, the national PSU is also participating in Textile Park proposed at Bhadrak.

Noting that IOCL has written several times to the State Government requesting for land for these projects, he said there is is hardly any progress. “It is rather unfortunate and discouraging that Odisha Government has not allotted the required land yet for the projects,” Pradhan rued.

Interestingly, the State Government has carried out road shows in several countries about the upcoming petrochemicals projects in Odisha to create awareness about these projects and invited potential investors in plastic and textile industry.

“In contrast, IOCL, which has offered to invest in various petrochemical projects is not getting timely response and cooperation”, the letter said.The Union Minister also mentioned about the proposal of Taiwan’s state-owned petroleum firm CPC Corporation for investing Rs 43,000 crore for green-field petrochemical projects in Paradip.

“I am sure that the proposed investment by CPC, Taiwan and Indian Oil of more than Rs 83,000 crore would not only contribute to the State’s economy significantly but also lead to direct and indirect employment generation for the youth,” he said.

Expressing anguish over the delay in allocation of land, the Union Minister said the need of the hour is to put the state’s interest first and work collectively for its growth and betterment of people.He requested the Chief Minister to direct the government authorities concerned for expeditious allotment of land.