Maharashtra’s refinery project to be revived

Five months after pushing the INR 3 trillion Nanar Petrochemicals Refinery Complex project in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri into cold storage, the BJP-led state government announced that it would be shifted to adjoining Raigad district. An Indian consortium of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd., and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. had signed an MoU with Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) to set up the estimated USD44 billion project in what would be the largest foreign investment in India.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the mega-refinery project will now come up near Roha in Raigad instead of Ratnagiri, both districts in the picturesque coastal Konkan region.

The proposal was temporarily shelved last February following stiff opposition by ruling ally Shiv Sena, NDA constituent Maharashtra Swabhiman Party, as well as the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and other opposition parties, besides thousands of villagers in and around Ratnagiri.

“There is no opposition to the refinery project from people in Raigad. People from around 40 villages have not shown any resistance to land acquisition for the venture,” Fadnavis said.

In a written reply in the Assembly June 19, state Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the mega-refinery project will now come up near Roha in Raigad instead of Ratnagiri, both districts in the picturesque coastal Konkan region.

Named the Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd. (RRPCL), it was supposed to be a project of great national importance providing for future energy security of the country and people. The Ratnagiri project was expected to create direct employment during the construction phase for over 150,000 people and once commissioned the project itself would have contributed to employment for nearly 20,000 directly besides lakhs of indirect employment.

The Ratnagiri refinery, scheduled to be commissioned by the year 2025, was slated to produce Euro-VI and higher quality automotive and aviation fuels benchmarked to international standards, besides a wide range of petrochemical products.

The Shiv Sena had previously made shifting of Nanar Refinery from Ratnagiri as one of the pre-conditions for the Lok Sabha seat-sharing agreement with the BJP, to which the latter acquiesced. The Sena, partner of the BJP-led ruling alliance in the state, was protesting against the refinery being set up at Nanar village in Ratnagiri district as thousands of farmers refused to give up land, fearing it could damage a region famed for its luscious mangoes, vast cashew plantations and fishing hamlets that boast bountiful catches of seafood.