NRL to be carved out of BPCL: Nirmala Sitharaman
NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday took several key decisions with respect to CPSEs (Central Public Sector Enterprises). These include strategic disinvestment of five CPSEs including BPCL (Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited) and also give up its management control in these enterprises. It has further decided to carve out NRL (Numaligarh Refinery Ltd) from the BPCL disinvestment. The Government will lower stake below 51% in select PSUs, retaining management control. Two of the PSUs under the strategic disinvestment plan, THDC, and NEEPCO will be taken over by another State-run power major, NTPC. The Centre holds 100 percent stake in NEEPCO that operates close to 1,500 MW of power plants in the north-eastern region.
The strategic sale of BPCL, however, would exclude the oil refinery’s 61 percent stake in Numaligarh Refinery Ltd in Assam, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters. “Numaligarh will be carved out from BPCL before its disinvestment and would retain its PSU character. The company can be taken over by other CPSE in the oil and gas sector under consolidation,” she said.
The Cabinet decided on the “strategic disinvestment of BPCL’s shareholding of 61.65 percent in NRL along with transfer of management control to a Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) operating in the oil and gas sector,” an official statement said.
The Disinvestment Secretary said that even with government holding falling below 51 percent, these companies would continue to retain the PSU character and the move will not require any amendments to laws governing the PSUs.
Among other decisions, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved certain measures for the effective implementation of initiatives to revive the construction sector.
It also cleared the amendments proposed in the Toll-Operate-Transfer (TOT) model by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Public funded National Highway (NH) projects, which are operational and have toll revenue generation history of one year after the Commercial Operations Date (COD), shall be monetized through the TOT Model. (IANS)