Government initiatives in petrochem sector

14-May-05

The UPA Government completes one year on May 21, 2005. During this period, the Government has taken several important initiatives. The National Policy on Petrochemicals was declared a thrust area in February 2005. A draft national Policy was prepared and finalized internally. The draft policy is being further discussed and fine-tuned. CIPET: Three new centres of the Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology (CIPET) in the States of Haryana, Maharashtra and Rajasthan are to be set up at a cost of Rs.23.76 crore each on equal cost sharing basis between the Central and the State Governments. CIPET is preparing to start long-term training programs from August 2005 at these centres. OPEC loan agreement worth US$.12.30 million to Central Institute of Plastic Engineering & Technology for capacity building has been finalised with the assistance of Department of Legal Affairs and Department of Economic Affairs. The matter is being followed up for expeditious signing of the agreement. Competitiveness of the Sector: The first sub-group meeting of the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) on Chemicals and Petrochemicals was held on April 29, 2005 to address the key concerns of the chemicals and petrochemicals sectors and facilitate their growth. The Department made a presentation on the key issues and the role of the Government in facilitating competitiveness of these sectors, at a meeting attended by industry representatives and officers from Government. It was decided that a follow-up meeting would be held after three months. Assam Gas Cracker Project: The Assam Gas Cracker Project with a capacity of 2.20 lakh tpa of Ethylene is to be set up by Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) as a joint venture with the Government of Assam. It has now been decided that GAIL would implement the project. This was considered in the meeting of the Public Investment Board (PIB) held on April 15, 2005. The next meeting of PIB is likely to be held in the early part of May 2005.