PM iugurates Gas Cracker, NRL wax plant

Our Bureau

Dibrugarh, Feb 5: Iugurating the Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Ltd (BCPL) and the country's largest wax production unit at Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL), Prime Minister rendra Modi rued that futuristic projects are not only conceptualized late in the country, their implementation and completion also get delayed for long years, depriving the country of timely benefits.

Iugurating the two projects by the push of a button at a function at the BCPL site at Lepetkata, Modi said, "A big challenge for our country is that we do not plan or think of such futuristic projects on time. Even when circumstances force us to think of such projects, the roadmap to complete it is not clear. We filly announce these projects, then wait for laying of foundation stone and many more years for its completion."

"And after the projects have been deleted from public memory, we filly iugurate it," he said, adding how such delays lead to missing out on employment generation while project costs keep escalating.

The Prime Minister pointed out that the BCPL should have been operatiol nearly 25 years back, but due to delays for various reasons, the project has been completed only now.

"The BCPL should have been iugurated by prime ministers before me. But it seems, it is my good fortune that I am getting to iugurate such mega projects," Modi quipped.

The Prime Minister said that the two projects being dedicated to the tion today are important for two reasons - for the value addition these would achieve for tural raw materials; and for the employment opportunities these would create for the youth of Assam. He said that with the dedication of these projects to the tion, there is joy (and) across the country and all-round joy (sarband) in Assam.

Modi said his government's thrust is on timely completion of all mega projects across the country and that he had himself being holding discussions with state chief secretaries through video conferencing over such stalled projects and how to get these completed.

Referring to the BCPL and the NRL wax production unit, the PM pointed out that these two projects would serve as value addition for available resources of the Northeast, contributing to accelerated and inclusive growth of the region and also help in reducing imports of plastic-based products to the country.

Urging the youth of the region to derive maximum benefits from these projects by availing of direct employment in these projects or by turning entrepreneurs, Modi said the Centre's programmes like Mudra Yoja and Start Up India are initiatives to encourage youths to build up downstream industries around such mega projects.

Underlining the emphasis the Centre is putting on the NE region, the PM said the 'Act East Policy' is an endevaour towards that end, especially targeted at boosting connectivity and infrastructure as the region is lagging behind in these sectors.

Increasing connectivity and more infrastructure will also open up trade opportunities with South Asian countries, directly benefiting the NE region, he added.

The Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Limited, which is a Central public sector enterprise under the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, was conceptualized to implement the Assam Gas Cracker project - an outcome of the historic Assam Accord signed in 1985. It was approved by the Centre on April, 2006.

The stakeholders of BCPL are GAIL (India) Limited as the main promoter having 70 percent equity participation and the rest  30 percent is equally shared by OIL India Limited (OIL), Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) and Government of Assam.  The manufacture of polymer products is expected to result in the growth of new downstream plastic processing industries in the NE region, besides reducing dependency on polymer supply from other parts of the country.

The project would generate direct employment of 700 personnel and indirect employment for around 2,500 people with opportunities for one lakh people through setting up of downstream plastic processing industries and ancillaries in the region. The feedstock for the project will be tural gas and phtha, which will be supplied by OIL, Oil and tural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and NRL.

Likewise, the 50,000 metric tonnes (MT) wax plant commissioned on March, 2015, at a cost of Rs 670 crore, is the country's largest wax producing unit with indigenous technology developed by IIP Dehradun, EIL and NRL. Leveraging on the inherent properties of wax rich crude oil from the oil fields of Assam, the plant is designed to produce superior quality paraffin and semi micro crystalline, and to minimize the supply deficit in the domestic market, thus reducing imports.

 Assam Governor PB Acharya, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, Union ministers Sarbanda Sonowal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Dr Jitendra Singh, Hansraj Ahir and Anth Kumar, among others, were present at the iuguration ceremony.