Assam Gas cracker project runs into delays leading to cost acceleration

20-Jul-10

Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Limited (BCPL) – known as the Assam Gas Cracker Project, has been faced with acute shortage of skilled manpower amid heavy rains this monsoon. This seems to have decelerated the pace of commissioning of the project that is progressing slower than planned and is running almost 6 months behind schedule. The slowdown has triggered concerns of project cost escalation to the tune of 15-20% in the Rs. 5,460 crore project- due to multiple reasons, like delays, change in foreign exchange rates, rise in price of natural gas. The company is making efforts to maintain project completion schedule of April 2012 as originally planned. The speed of construction work is expected gather speed post-monsoon. But manpower seems to be the key problem shrouding the project- skilled manpower of about 16,000 will be required by January 2011, as per projections.