IOC to complete the first phase of Paradip oil refinery by 2012

The first phase of the much-delayed Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) Paradip Oil Refinery (POR) project in Orissa will be completed by March 2012, said Sarthak Behuria, IOC chairman. Behuria said Rs6000 crore (US$1.29 billion) had already been invested in the project and efforts were being made to lay the pipeline to Jatni, Khurda, Jharsuguda, Ranchi and Raipur to supply petroleum products. Behuria hinted that IOC was facing difficulty in getting bank loans because of the absence of an agreement between the state government and the public sector unit on land transfer. Heavy equipment required for the construction of the petrochemical complex also could not be mobilized due to lack of good and wide roads. Construction work of the US$10 billion project was going on at a satisfactory pace and would take another 35 to 40 months to be completed. (February 4, 2010)