Sonepur Energy proposes Rs 5,000 cr petro hub in Ganjam

Reported by Chinmaya Dehury, Edited by Swetaparna Mohanty

Bhubaneswar, Sep 26:

The Sonepur Energy and Oil City Pvt Ltd has proposed to the state government setting up an energy and oil city (petroleum and petrochemical hub) at Sonepur in Ganjam district at an investment of Rs 5,000 crore.

The complex is designed to cater to the needs of petroleum and petrochemical supporting industries, oil rig/ship fabrication and repair facilities and pharmaceutical units.

The company also has plans for building a state of the art petrochemical academy, a port and a power plant. The academy will train technocrats for the upstream and downstream sectors in collaboration with major oil companies of the world and create an incubation centre to promote micro entrepreneurs in the petroleum sector.

“Keeping in view current industrial needs and demand, continuous shifting of focus from west to east and acute shortage of skilled manpower, the company aims at making India a global petroleum hub in the world,” said a letter of the company submitted to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

“We consider Odisha one of the most favoured destinations for growth related activities which would create vast avenues of employment opportunities for the people as well as help raise the standard of living of the people in the state,” the letter said.

As per the proposal, the company would invest Rs 150 crore on land acquisition and connectivity, Rs 100 crore for the energy academy, Rs 2,700 crore for the power plant, Rs 1,000 crore for creating marine facilities, Rs 400 crore for the desalination plant and another Rs 500 crore towards township and office complex. The oil and energy academy would also come up in the hub at an investment of Rs 300 crore