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The Union ministry of chemicals & petrochemicals has invited comments from the Odisha government to revise its existing PCPIR (Petroleum, Chemicals & Petrochemicals Investment Region) policy, 2007 to make it more functional.

"As a result of constant reviews and monitoring of the progress of PCPIRs, a need has been felt to review the existing PCPIR policy to make it more functional by amending the existing provisions and adding a few new provisions. It is requested that comments/inputs, if any on the policy may be sent to this department in order to enable the department to incorporate the same in the revised policy", Avinash Joshi, joint secretary, department of chemicals & fertilisers said in a letter to Odisha industries secretary Vishal Dev.

The PCPIR policy was framed by the Centre to promote investment in the petrochemicals sector and make the country an important hub for both domestic and international markets. Under the policy, Government of India would ensure the availability of external infrastructure linkages to the PCPIRs including rail, roads, ports, airport and telecom in a time bound manner. The Centre would also provide the necessary Viability Gap Funding (VGF) through existing schemes.

The policy mandates state governments to play the lead role in setting up of the PCPIRs that includes identification of a suitable site, preparation of proposal, notification of PCPIR area and facilitating land acquisition. In Odisha, the PCPIR hub is spread over 284.15 sq km in Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts. The PCPIR is expected to draw investment of about INR 2.8 lakh crore including a committed investment of INR 29,777 crore on a 15 million tonne refinery by Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL), the anchor tenant for the hub.

The PCPIR would generate direct employment for 227,000 people and indirect jobs for 421,000 others. Till date, the PCPIR has seen grounding of investment of over INR 30,000 crore, according to a fact sheet prepared by the Union ministry of chemicals & petrochemicals.

The total infrastructural investment on the Odisha PCPIR has been pegged at INR 13634 crore. Out of this, the state government will contribute INR 1800 crore while the balance will come from the private players.

A special purpose vehicle (SPV) called Paradip Investment Region Development Ltd has been formed under Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (Idco) to implement the project. Idco has done the preliminary master planning for the project.

Singapore-based Jurong Consultants is being engaged for preparation of feasibility study and product profile study of the PCPIR. The turnover of this PCPIR hub is estimated at INR 4.23 lakh crore with an export potential of INR 43,000 crore. The PCPIR hub is expected to generate taxes to the tune of INR 42,000 crore and contribute six per cent to Odisha Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Source-On Request