Bhubaneswar: The country’s first ever Petrochemicals Investors Conclave, held here on Thursday, witnessed a number of MoU signing giving a push to the Petroleum, Chemicals, Petrochemicals Investment Region ( Pcpir) coming up at Paradip in Odisha.
The Indian Oil Corporation Ltd(Iocl) and the Odisha government’s Idco signed an MoU to collaborate in setting up a Plastic Park at Paradip. The Iocl is setting up a 700 kilo tonnes per annum (kta) polypropylene unit at Paradip by 2018 to serve as a mother plant for downstream polymer/ plastic ancillary units.
The CIPET will set up a technology service centre in Paradip to support the development of the plastic units in the Plastic Park.
The MoU was signed by the officials of the Iocl and the Idco at the Petro-chemical Investors Conclave, held here on Thursday.
The Conclave also witnessed signing of an MoU between Iocl and MCPI Ltd. for setting up a Textiles Park in Odisha. The Mono Ethylene Glycol (Meg) unit coming up at Paradip Refinery and availability of Purified Terephthalic Acid (Pta)) in the East would help in the development of the polyester downstream industry in Eastern Region. The Textile Park, with the synergy of cotton fiber with polyester fiber to promote and popularise synthetic textiles, will benefit MSME units with employment potential of up to 22 lakhs.
The Iocl also singed an MoU with Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai, to set up a campus of ICT in Bhubaneswar.
Inaugurating the Conclave, the union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan, said that India’s petrochemicals sector is going through a golden period, with growth rates of 14-15% per annum. Odisha, with ready availability of raw material from Paradip Refinery and other units, skilled and low-cost manpower, port infrastructure and rail connectivity and a large regional market, must fully utilise the opportunity to create investment opportunities in the downstream Plastics Park and Textiles Park in the state.
He said while the per capita consumption of plastics in India is only 10 kg as compared to the world average of 32 kg, it is much lower at 5 kg in Eastern India.
Odisha finance minister Shashi Bhusan Behera and MSME minister Prafulla Samal also addressed the Conclave which was attended by over 750 delegates from all over the country.
Union chemicals and petrochemicals secretary Rajeev Kapoor said that the department is in the process of developing a master plan for the petrochemicals sector in India to serve as a road map for the next 15-20 years.
Vice president(Asia Pacific) of IHS Market Tony Potte,r in his presentation in the inaugural session, said that India’s polymers demand is projected to grow from 13 million metric tonnes per annum (mmtpa) currently to 55-60 mmtpa by the year 2040. Therefore, he added, it is very important that the country’s investments in petrochemical plants keep pace with the rising demand to avoid imports in the coming years.
CEO Sembcorp Vipul Tuli, vice chancellor of Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) Prof. GD Yadav, Iocl chairman Sanjiv Singh and CMD GAIL (India) Ltd. BC Tripathi also spoke in the Conclave.
