Maharashtra's super refinery project moves ahead

In a significant development involving the world’s largest refinery project in Ratnagiri in the coastal Konkan belt, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposing a new location.

The Maharashtra government is in touch with the Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (RRPCL), which would be executing the mega project.

The super refinery project involves an Indian consortium consisting of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) that signed an MoU with Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Saudi Aramco) for setting up India's largest refinery and petroleum complex.

The Rs three lakh crore would have been the largest single-location refinery complex in the world with a capacity of 60 million tonnes.

Initially, the project was proposed to come up at Nanar in Rajapur tehsil, however, it had to be stalled because of the opposition by the Shiv Sena.

While Thackeray had communicated with Modi some time back, the issue became public coinciding with the Konkan visit of his son and state Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray.

Asked about the development, the junior Thackeray said: “Yes, as I have said earlier, the project would come up after consultations with the locals and the interest of the bhoomi-putras."

In place of Nanar, the government has proposed Basru and Nate for the refinery and crude oil terminal, respectively.

The Shiv Sena’s alliance partners in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government - Congress and NCP seem to be on the same page.

It may be mentioned, on Sunday, Union Minister for Education, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan had said: “The Nanar oil refinery project in Konkan has the potential to contribute millions of crores of rupees and employment to Maharashtra’s economy. Though the project has been stalled for the last few years due to the opposition, now that the Maharashtra government seems to be changing its mind, there is hope for a revival of the Nanar project.”

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