DH Exclusive: Maharashtra may lose mega refinery to Gujarat

The Centre is considering shifting the proposed $70 billion (about Rs 4 lakh crore) Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (RRPCL) from Maharashtra to Gujarat amid concerns over land acquisition.

Two officials in the central government, who are working on the deal, confirmed to DH that the government recently received a proposal on shifting the refinery.

“We have received the proposal. There has been a positive response to it, but nothing has been finalised,” one of the officials, requesting anonymity, said.

The RRPCL, which was announced in December 2015, was to be commissioned by 2022, but delays in the land acquisition have already pushed the deadline to 2025. The initial location of the project, which requires about 10,000 acres, was to be Nanar village in Ratnagiri district.

The farmers, backed by the Shiv Sena, protested vehemently against the project following which the then BJP government led by Devendra Fadnavis shifted the project to neighbouring Raigad district in the Konkan region.

The Konkan region comprises the twin districts of Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban, neighbourhood of Palghar, Thane districts and the belt of Raigad, Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurg. Konkan is known for its “money-order economy” (dependent on remittances) and is the bastion of the Shiv Sena.

With the regime change in Maharashtra, the Centre, according to sources, is not seeing any end to the land acquisition limbo.

The Shiv Sena had in the past had opposed the nuclear power park project in Jaitapur in Ratnagiri district.

“We are always ready to promote industries and businesses and that is how people are coming to us,” said Manoj Das, Principal Secretary, Industries, Gujarat, told DH, when asked about the deal.

Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra industries minister Subhash Desai said the position on Nanar remains the same. “For any project to come up, the voice of the locals is most important,” Desai said at a programme on Saturday. However, he did not elaborate.

Last week, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray visited the Konkan region but skipped mentioning the project. “Together with the Konkan region, we will create new Maharashtra,” he said.

Desai, who is a close confidant of Thackeray, last week, said: “We have cancelled the notification for the Nanar refinery project. No other party has gone to that extent. We have not changed our stance on it.”

With a 60 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) capacity, RRPCL is a joint venture comprising Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), and three state-owned oil marketing companies, Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL).

Saudi Aramco and Adnoc will jointly hold a 50% stake of the refinery, with the remaining 50% being owned by the Indian oil companies.

The deal was set to bring in foreign direct investment (FDI) to India worth $35 billion (Rs 2 lakh crore). This would provide much-needed support to the rupee values as the forex reserves would be buffered because of this deal.

(With inputs from Mrityunjay Bose)