Bathinda oil refinery to be commissioned by 2011

Chandigarh, Mar 18 (UNI) The Rs 18,900 crore oil refinery project at Bathinda, a joint venture between HPCL-Mittal Energy Limited would be commissioned by January 2011.

This assurance was given by Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Guru Gobind Singh Refinery Project (GGSRP), Mr Prabh Das today during his meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

During a high level meeting with the senior functionaries of the state government, Mr Das said that the orders for the critical equipment required for the project had already been placed with world renowned firms. He said that the implementation of the project would be monitored by the top management from time to time to ensure its completion within the stipulated time frame.

Mr Das also informed Mr Badal that the management of the project had decided in principle to set up an industrial training centre in the vicinity of the refinery to impart skill training to the local youth of the region, to enable them to be finally employed in this up-coming prestigious project.

He also informed the Chief Minister that the proposed training centre would primarily train the youth according to the requirements of the refinery and would cater to the needs of the downstream and ancillary units based on the byproducts of the project. He hoped that this mega refinery of 9 MMTPA with a captive power generation plant of 152 MW would provide tremendous employment potential for direct as well indirect jobs.

Mr Das said that all the modalities in respect of setting up this training institute would be finalized within a fortnight. He also pointed out that the management of the project was also contemplating to adopt one of the Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) within the proximity of the refinery to run short as well as long term courses on refinery related work.

Mr Das also apprised the Chief Minister about the financial tie up with the banks and informed that it was unprecedented that a loan of Rs 11,000 crore had been jointly approved and sanctioned by 26 banks of the country. He said there would be a lot of scope for the development of plastic and chemical industry with the setting up this refinery in the region.

He also mentioned that about 60 per cent of the entire production of petroleum products including petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene of the refinery would be utilized for consumption with in the state.

The Chief Minister during the meeting introduced the concept of 'Adarsh Schools' to Mr Das with focus ob quality education free of cost to the poor and intelligent students in the rural areas. He urged Mr Das to join hands with Punjab government for setting up such schools.

He also informed the CEO about the initiative taken by the government to provide highly professional training to the state's youth in private security sector keeping in view its enormous scope and asked him to utilize the services of these trained security personnel in their project so that they could be gainfully employed.

Prominent amongst others who were present in the meeting included Chief Secretary R I Singh, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister D S Guru, Special Principal Secretary to Chief Minister K J S Cheema, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister A K Mahajan and Chief Manager Coordination GGSRP Jaspal Singh Saini.

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