The Petroleum, Chemicals, Petro-chemical Investment Region (PCPIR) will certainly come up in Andhra Pradesh and there is no rethinking on the project, Sushma Rath, the Joint Secretary in the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, has asserted.
She was responding to questions by reporters here on Thursday after participating in a ceremony in Andhra University to mark the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy (IIPE) and IIT, Kharagpur, the mentoring institute.
Scotching speculation in the local media that the PCPIR project, originally proposed between Visakhapatnam and Kakinada, had been shelved or shifted to other States, she said the location had to be decided yet. "There are certain issues to be resolved and it is not yet finalised whether it should be in the Vizag-Kakinada region, as originally envisaged, or near Machilipatnam. But it will be in AP," she said.
It may be noted that originally the PCPIR was proposed to be located between Visakhapatnam and Kakinada, and the former prime minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, first made the announcement at the Visakhapatnam steel plant that PCPIR would be set up in the then undivided State.
However, for various reasons, the project had not really taken off and one of the main reasons is that there is really no anchor (main) unit for the proposed PCPIR. It has led to speculation of late that the project might have been shelved.
sarma.rs@thehindu.co.in