The first stage of Assam Gas Cracker project commissioned

30-Nov-15

The first phase of long-delayed Rs 9,285 crore Assam Gas Cracker project, the first petrochemical project in the North East, has been commissioned, as reported by economictimes.com. "The cracker, polypropylene (PP) unit, gas processing unit and all utilities have been commissioned," said B C Tripathi, Chairman and Managing Director of GAIL India, the majority stake holder in Brahmaputra Crackers and Polymers Ltd (BCPL) that is building the project. The plant has started producing ethylene and the LDPE/HDPE unit will be made operational after receipt of ethylene from the cracker plant. "The entire plant will be commission in next two weeks time," he said. Foundation stone for this project was laid in April 2007 at Lepetkata. The project was to originally be completed by April 2012. The project is finally being commissioned now. From an initial Rs 5,460 crore, project cost was revised to Rs 9,285 crore. Apart from changes in design, escalating costs of steel, cement and other construction materials were cited as the main factors responsible for the hike. GAIL holds 70% stake in BCPL while the remaining 10% is equally split between Oil India Ltd, Numaligarh Refineries Ltd and the Assam government.