Announced Union minister for state
Union minister of state for petroleum Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday announced that a new coal-based refinery, which will be the biggest in the country, will come up on the western coast of Maharashtra by April 2017. He asked Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to come together and prepare a plan for the project, which will be crucial to meet India’s fuel requirements that are expected to grow from 165 metric tonnes to 550 metric tonnes by 2040.
CM Devendra Fadnavis assured Mr Pradhan that the state would make the land parcel available for the project immediately and ensure hassle-free implementation of the project.
Mr Fadnavis dedicated the new state-of-the-art Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) of Bharat Petroleum’s Mumbai Refinery to the nation on Monday while th e petroleum minister was the chief guest at the event.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Pradhan said that keeping in view the increasing demand for petroleum and petro-products in the coming 25 years, the Union government decided to set up a new refinery projects with capacity of 550 million metric tonnes by April 2017 at the West Coast of Maharashtra. The refinery will be helpful in industrial development as well as employment generation, he said.
“The pace of development in Maharashtra had slowed down because of the bad governance of 15 years (by Congress and NCP). But from my experience over the last one year in office, I can say that the development has once again accelerated in the state under the leadership of Mr Fadnavis. On this occasion I want to take up one responsibility of setting up a new refinery on the western coast of the state by 2017,” Mr Pradhan said.
The Union minister of state further said that International Energy Agency has predicted that India’s requirement of petroleum products is going to increase form 165 metric tonnes today to 550 metric tonnes by 2040. “We have to plan for the next 50-60 years. The new refinery in the state will cater to the state and other parts of Western India,” he added.
Welcoming Mr Pradhan’s announcement, Mr Fadnavis said that he would convene a meeting of concerned officials at the earliest to make land available for the project.
