Stage set for gas cracker foundation

Dibrugarh, Apr 08 (UNI) The long wait is finally over. After a number of deferments, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will lay the foundation of the much-awaited Asom Gas Craker Project at Lepetkata in Dibrugarh on Monday amid expectations that the project would open the floodgates of industrialisation and economic development in the region.

Christened as the Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Limited (BCPL), the Rs 5,460.61-crore project will convert the petro-chemical fraction of gas into valuable polymers, substitutes for costlier items such as wood, metal and glass.

According to sources in the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), the main promoter of the multi-crore venture, the project has the potential to promote a number of downstream and ancillary industries such as chemicals, paints, packaging, foam and rubber.

Besides, the Gas Cracker project would provide direct employment opportunities to about 1,000 odd technicians, while another one lakh are expected to get work in the wide-ranging down stream industries.

The government had already handed over 1,741 bighas of the land to GAIL out of the 3,297 bighas to be required for setting up the project.

Although Tengakhat, 16 km from Dibrugarh, was chosen as the site for the project earlier, it was shifted to Lepetkata after the Indian Air Force raised an objection stating that the construction of the project at Tengakhat would hamper flight operation.

The project again ran into trouble after the Centre threatened to cancel the 'letter of indent' with Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) if the latter failed to finalise the gas deal within December 31, 1999. Following RIL's exit from the scene, the big task of completing the project went to GAIL.

The GAIL has 70 per cent stake in the project, while the Oil India, Numaligarh Refinery Limited and Asom Government would have 10 per cent shares each.

Official sources said eight more industrial training institutes are coming up in the state to train up entrepreneurs and skilled workers to reap the benefits of the gas cracker. Five hundred downstream projects had been already identified, the sources added.

On the other hand, amid a row over the acquisition of land for the project, the government had already released Rs 18 crore for disbursement to the land owners. The total compensation money for the land owners is Rs 59 crore, which includes land cost, surface compensation and compensation for houses, plants and trees.

The land to be requisitioned had been classified into four classes: 1,500 bighas are high and tea land (Rs 1.42 lakh compensation per bigha), 1,000 bighas low land under agriculture (Rs 71,000 compensation per bigha) and 500 bighas of marshy land (Rs 57,000 compensation per bigha).

The state government is working to pay land compensation to all the affected families, and for this, a special cabinet decision likely to be taken soon.

UNI