The promoters of Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (RRPCL) have tasked a four-member panel led by former IAS officer DM Sukhtankar to convince and win over those opposing the ₹3-lakh crore oil refinery and petrochemical plant planned at Ratnagiri in Maharashtra, the world’s biggest.

The other members of the panel include economist Vijay Kelkar; academician and economist Abhay Pethe; and JB Joshi, the former-director of Mumbai-based Institute of Chemical Technology.

Kelkar confirmed the development to BusinessLine .

Along with a “strong governmental effort” to acquire 15,000 acres of land — a critical element of the project — belonging to some 3,000 farmers, the panel will present the facts before the people to get the project on track, a director-level official at one State-run oil refining company told BusinessLine .

“Nobody will listen if we present the facts to the people. So, we have tasked the panel comprising people of eminence from Maharashtra to present the facts so that the project can be put on track,” he said, asking not to be named.

“Firstly, it is 15,000 acres of arid land [that is being demanded for the plant]. There are some areas where mango and cashew is cultivated, but they are not as significant as the people are claiming. People are buying land all over and trying to use that as an opportunity to increase the price,” he said.

State-run oil refiners Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) will together hold 50 per cent stake in the project with Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil producer, and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), holding the remainder.

A city, eventually

The project master plan involves setting up a 60 million tonne (mt) integrated refinery and petrochemical plant which will eventually become a city in itself.

“Because the volumes will be so huge, we are actually thinking of setting up a facility which will look somewhat like Jurong, Singapore. It’s just not about building a refinery; we are trying to build a city,” the official said.

He said that despite the emphasis

“This project is necessary for the country. It’s very easy to say do not put up this project, if you do not, you are going to cripple the economy. Because, the growth rates are such, the projections are in spite of electric vehicles and gas, by 2040 according to a ministry document, 15 per cent is expected to be gas, 7 per cent is electric vehicles, the balance has to come from motor spirit and high-speed diesel. The challenge for us is how to make the investments such that this transition to a non-hydrocarbon fuel is handled and at the same time, you don’t create an economy that face shortages,” the official said.

“We are going to look at the best in the world when it becomes operational and the petrochemical percentage will also be high. So, we are looking at bringing the best technology to see that the emissions are minimum, we are thinking of a large desalination plant somewhere around 200 million gallons per day (mgd) capacity to make water sustainable not only for the plant but also for the surroundings and the quality of products will be beyond BS 6 and the octane numbers will be higher,” the official added.

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