Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a two-day visit to Kerala and Karnataka beginning Thursday, will inaugurate two projects of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL) worth ₹2,510 crore.

The Prime Minister will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of projects worth around ₹3,800 crore on Friday in Mangaluru, including MRPL’s BS-VI upgradation project and sea water desalination plant, and also commission India’s first indegenous aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant at the Cochin Shipyard in Kochi.

New MRPL projects

The BS-VI upgradation project, worth around ₹1,830 crore, will facilitate production of ultra-pure environment friendly BS-VI grade fuel (with sulphur content less than 10 PPM), The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a release.

The sea water desalination plant, set up at a cost of around ₹680 crore, will help reduce dependency on fresh water and ensure regular supply of hydrocarbons and petrochemicals throughout the year. Having a capacity of 30 million litres per day (MLD), the plant converts seawater into water required for the refinery processes, it added.

Besides these two projects in Mangaluru, the Prime Minister will also inaugurate a project worth over ₹280 crore for mechanisation of berth-14 for handling containers and other cargo, undertaken by the New Mangalore Port Authority.

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The mechanised terminal will increase efficiency and reduce turnaround time, pre-berthing delay and dwell time in the port by around 35 per cent, thus giving a boost to the business environment. Phase I of the project has been successfully completed, thereby adding over 4.2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to the handling capacity, which would further increase to over 6 MTPA by 2025.

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