The Hindu Business Line : Kochi petrochemical complex — GAIL board to give nod next month

GAIL (India) Ltd's proposed petrochemical complex to be set up here would cost Rs 6,058 crore as per the detailed feasibility report (DFR) prepared by Engineers India Ltd and the company's board would accord its final approval at its meeting scheduled for next month, said Mr Proshanto Banerjee, Chairman and Managing Director of the company.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Banerjee said that the gas cracker capacity of the complex, to be set up exclusively by GAIL, will be 4 lakh tonnes a year. It will come up at the Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd (FACT) complex at Ambalamugal near here and will be completed in 48 months.

For the acquisition of land, he said, already two rounds of discussions are over with officials of FACT. GAIL's negotiating team is now meeting the officials to finalise the rate at which the land is to be bought.

The DFR prepared by EIL for the 900-km pipeline to evacuate natural gas from Petronet LNG Ltd's (PLL) proposed terminal at Puthyvypeen near here to Mangalore-Coimbatore- Bangalore at a cost of Rs 2,000 crore has been submitted to the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Chemicals, Mr Banerjee said.

Besides, a sub-sea pipeline to carry re-gassified LNG to the National Thermal Power Corporation's (NTPC) plant at Kayamkulam and to Kerala Minerals & Metals at Chavara will also be taken up at Rs 450 crore. This project would be completed in 18 months, he said.

NTPC, which is expanding the capacity of its thermal plant to 2,300 megawatts (MW) from the present 350 MW by switching over to LNG from naphtha, would be sourcing gas from PLL, he added.

Considering the steep rise in air pollution in Kochi, an Air Pollution Related Disease Diagnostic Centre (APRDDC) will be set up this month at the Government general hospital here at a cost of Rs 20 lakh.

Meanwhile, an MoU was signed here on Friday by all the four participants of the proposed joint venture to be set up for supplying CNG in the city to the automobile, domestic and small industry segments.

The company `God's Own Gas Company Limited' would be registered next month, said Capt. M. J. Mohan, General Manager of BPCL, who heads the Gas Task Force. The project cost is estimated at Rs 300 crore.

The equity structure of the joint venture to be constituted on similar lines of Indraprastha Gas Ltd, New Delhi, will be — GAIL 22.5 per cent, BPCL 22.5 per cent, the Kerala Government 5 per cent and the balance will be held by strategic investors, public and financial institutions.

The capital base of the joint venture would be finalised this month, he added.

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