Petrochemical regions attract investment of Rs 1.06 lakh cr

Petrochemical investment regions in the country have attracted an investment of Rs 1.06 lakh crore so far and the target is to achieve Rs 7.62 lakh crore of investment in time bound manner, Fertiliser Minister Ananth Kumar has said.

Kumar informed this in a meeting of the Consultative Committee of Parliament attached to Fertiliser Ministry held yesterday to discuss the topic of 'Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemical Investment Regions (PCPIRs)' and Plastic Parks. "The target of Modi Government is to achieve an investment of Rs 7,62,000 crores and generate employment for 34 lakh people in PCPIRs in time bound manner. Already there has been an investment of Rs 1,06,000 crores which has generated employment for 2.23 lakh people in various PCPIRs," Kumar said in an official statement.

PCPIR is a delineated area of around 250 sq km for setting up manufacturing facilities for domestic and export led production. In March 2007, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had approved the proposal to set up PCPIRs in four states -- Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Tamil Nadu.

Anchor tenant in Gujarat is ONGC promoted OPal, while in Odisha the anchor tenant is IOCL. In Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, the anchor tenants are HPCL and Nagarjuna Oil Corp, respectively. In the meeting, Kumar said the present challenge in the sector is value addition.