22.11.08

Dahej PCPIR snippets


A recent Gujarat government report on the proposed petroleum, chemical and petrochemical investment region (PCPIR), to be developed on 473 sq km of land between Dahej and Bharuch in South Gujarat as part of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), says that a whopping Rs 70,000 crore worth of investment has already been “committed” for the area. To be developed as the second special investment region (SIR) meant only for petrochemical and chemical sector, indications are that its development is set to outpace the general purpose Dholera SIR, to take shape next to Ahmedabad. It has an additional advantage — there four jetties in the vicinity, developed road and rail connectivity and no problem of water as it is to be developed on the north bank of the Narmada river. The report already suggests that Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), which has been given the charge of developing it, has acquired 14 per cent of the land for PCPIR, while another 11 per cent of the land is in the process of being acquired. As for the rest, the acquisition will not be difficult, as the whole area is sparsely populated. Besides, a joint venture between Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) and Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC), ONGC Petro Additions Ltd (OPAL), will be promoting the PCPIR as the ‘lead anchor’. The report says OPAL alone has decided to invest Rs 13,600 crore in PCPIR in “1.1 million metric tonnes per annum (MMPTA) multi-feed petrochemical cracker”, with ONGC setting up an extraction plant at Dahej. Besides this, Dahej SEZ Ltd, a joint venture between ONGC and GIDC which will form a part of PCPIR has begun to develop infrastructure for the proposed petrochemicals SEZ. While at Dholera SIR areas for different activities are yet to be demarcated, this has been completed for PCPIR. Thus, of the 45,295 hectares area for PCPIR, 45 per cent or 20,383 hectares have been demarcated for industrial, warehousing and port; 30 per cent or 13,558 hectares have been set aside as residential zone; and rest of it being for non-processing are — 5 per cent or 2,265 hectares for institutions, 10 per cent or 4,529 hectares as green area, 5 per cent or 2,265 hectares for commercial use and five per cent or 2,265 hectares for general purpose utilities. The report suggests why Gujarat is already proving to be a preferred destination to the other two PCPIRs being developed in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. Gujarat today can be called the chemical and petrochemical hub of India with 31 per cent of India’s investment in the sector.

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