PM plans to inaugurate Rs 10,000 crore project today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fly to Dibrugarh in Upper Assam on Friday to inaugurate Rs 10,000 crore gas cracker project in Assam.

He will be accompanied by fertiliser minister Ananth Kumar and petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

This is the first-ever petrochemical project in the entire north-east India and was a part of the historic Assam Accord signed on 15th August, 1985 to promote the overall socio-economic development of the region.

In 2007, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had laid the foundation for the project at Lepetkata near Dibrugarh in Assam.

For establishing this project, a joint venture company called Brahmaputra Crackers and Polymers Ltd has been formed.

GAIL is the main promoter with 70 per cent stake, while the Assam government, Oil India Ltd and Numaligarh Refinery have 10 per cent stake each in the company.

The project is established with an investment of Rs 10,000 crores, out of which Rs 5,000 crores have been provided in the form of subsidy by the Central government.

The project will manufacture high-quality polymers with annual capacity of 2.80 lakh tonnes per annum, including 2.20 lakh tonnes of polyethylene and 60,000 tonnes of Polypropylene per annum.

These polymers can be used for manufacturing plastic furniture, PVC pipes and other packaging material.

The project is expected to generate employment for more than 3,000 people directly or indirectly.

The project is also expected to generate scope for substantial investments in the setting up of downstream plastic processing industries.