Fadnavis says Ratnagiri refinery launch certain

Despite stiff opposition from its long-term ally Shiv Sena, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday exuded confidence that the Ratnagiri refinery project will surely be launched, but only after talks with all the stakeholders.

“For Ratnagiri refinery I have spoken to Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. We will talk to them again and also with other stakeholders and provide all the details. It is a greener refinery than the one in Chembur, Mumbai.

“We have not signed an agreement yet, but we will do it,” Fadnavis told reporters at the investor summit here sounding confident.

Thackeray had recently met Fadnavis to convey his party’s concerns over the ~1.5-trillion mega refinery and petrochemical complex proposed to be set up near Rajapur in Ratnagiri district of the Konkan region.

If implemented this will be largest single-location refinery in the world.

Local residents, mostly fishermen and farmers, have been opposing the project on the grounds that it would take away their livelihoods, disturb the ecology of the entire region, and expose the Konkan region to further industrial exploitation.

State-owned IndianOil, Bharat Petroleum and the ONGC- owned Hindustan Petroleum are building the integrated complex with a refining capacity of 60 million tonne per annum at Babulwadi in the Rajapur taluka of the Ratnagiri district.

Meanwhile, Fadnavis also informed that his government has already acquired around 70 per cent of land required for the Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway project.

“We have acquired every inch of land for the project by consent only. The remaining 30 per cent will also be acquired by consent,” he added.