Paradip polypropylene plant among projects worth Rs 11,000 cr launched in Odisha

Paradip: Polypropylene plant at Paradip Refinery and a slew of others projects, including those of National Highways, worth Rs 11,000 crore were launched in Odisha today in the presence of Union Petroleum & Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Union Road Transport & Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari.

Built at an investment of Rs 3,150 crore, the 680 kilo tonnes per annum polypropylene plant will increase Indian Oil’s petrochemicals capacity to 3.15 million tonne per annum (MTPA). It will also support plastics industry in eastern region of India, official sources said.

A Multipurpose Clean Cargo Berth of capacity 50 lakh tonnes /year, built at a cost of Rs 431 Crore, to handle clean cargo including containers at Paradip Port was also inaugurated. The Berth (450m length x 30m wide x 16m draught) can take in Capesize vessels upto 125000 DWT. There is a Railway line with full length siding (3.2Km). The Container handling capacity will enable local industry to find global markets.

Foundation stone for six projects at the port were also laid on the occasion. These include:

i. LPG Terminal at South Oil Jetty worth Rs 690 Crore, having a capacity of 7.5 lakh tons/year – The project will be executed by IOCL primarily for import of LPG to cater to domestic requirements.

ii. Mechanization of 3 Coal handling berths at a cost of  Rs 1500 Crore; The berth will have a capacity of  300 lakh tons/year and be used for  handling export coal. It will be important for sending coal to power plants in South India.

iii. Development of New Coal Import Berth at cost of Rs 655 Crore, Capacity 100 lakh tons/year. The project will be completed by April 2021. It will be used for handling import of coal cargo and will be important for steel industry in East India.

iv. Development of Multi Modal Logistic Park at a cost of Rs 200 Crore over 350 acres. 100 acres are being developed by CONCOR. There will be 11 lakh sq.ft. of warehousing at the park.

v. Connectivity of MCHP and IOHP at PPT – Rs 67 Crore – This is a project for transfer of thermal coal received through BOXN wagons from Iron Ore Handling Plant (IOHP) to Mechanized Coal Handling Plant (MCHP) stockyard by optimization of capacity of Wagon Tippler of IOHP thereby giving flexibility for inter plant cargo handling and supplementing capacity of MCHP.

vi. 2^nd Exit road including flyover from port at a cost of  Rs 94 Crore- A 2nd exit from PPT including flyover has been proposed as part of SIPC project to reduce traffic inside city area. This project shall provide improved Port connectivity from National Highway besides serving as the second exit route and will be executed by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the port.

At Kamakhyanagar in Dhenkanal district, Gadkari did Bhoomi Pujan for three National Highways projects of a total length of 132 km, worth Rs 2345 Crores.

The NH projects for which foundation stones were laid are: Four laning of the 41.726 km Talcher-Kamakhyanagar section of NH 200/23, (New NH 53) at a cost of Rs 795.18 Crore; the 51.1 km Kamakhyanagar-Duburi section of NH 200 (New NH 53) at a cost of Rs 761.11 Crore and 39.4 km Duburi-Chandikhole section of NH 200 (New NH 53) at a cost of Rs 789.23 Crore.

The above projects will have appropriate structures to reduce traffic congestion and ensure safety of road users. These would include 3 bypasses, 1 Flyover, 19 Vehicular Underpasses, 9 Major and 39 Minor Bridges and 45 km of service road.

These NH projects will ensure better connectivity of the mineral rich Angul and Dhenkanal districts of Odisha with the rest of the state. By reducing traffic congestion and the travel time between places, the projects would help in reducing the operating cost of vehicles and bring down the levels of pollution. All this will help generate employment opportunities in the region and improve the socio-economic condition of the local people.