VED has been inviting leading experts for discussions about the setting up of a large Refinery and Petrochemical Complex (RPC) in Vidarbha, who have welcomed the move by VED Council for ensuring employment and prosperity for the region. VED President Shivkumar Rao, welcomed them at separate virtual meetings where a detailed presentation on the RPC was made by him, stressing that there was a large consumption base in central India that justified the need for the said RPC. He informed that there are large cement and steel industries, as well as coal, Iron & Manganese mines in the vicinity that use bulk petroleum, and an industry like the IndoRama that is a petrochemical-consuming industry in the region.
Vinayak Marathe, who worked with Reliance Industries for more than 30 years, and is presently associated with L&T Hydrocarbons Division and Aaramco, fully endorsed the concept as most such crude pipeline-based refineries, (the one projected for Vidarbha being one such), are running successfully in the country. He said with the Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway, laying of the crude pipeline may not be difficult for a 30 Million MTPA refinery which it was projected to be.
Assured demands for fuels and petrochemicals would make the project very attractive for both investors and product-users both. Huge investments in the MSME sector also usually come up near a refinery. From industrial plastics, paints, chemicals, textiles, calcined Petroleum coke, packaging, lubricants under MSMEs would all flourish in the region.
On the employment front, he said, 25,000 people would get jobs directly as employees and contract workers, while direct and indirect employment generation together could be about 2 lakhs. He specifically said that one highly paid individual job bringing with it an improved lifestyle and increased buying capacity had the potential to support 50 other people indirectly. Petrochemicals and the manufacturing of other related products may also attract many opportunities for the youth.
On Environmental issues Marathe said, with new-generation Euro 6 quality fuels, emissions by refineries and vehicular pollution would reduce, and with the latest technology, all harmful ingredients like sulphur, toluene, benzene i.e. products abstracted from refinery emissions could be sold as raw materials for use by different types of industries. Hence, with proper awareness and technology, pollution and environmental concerns can be overcome.
Further on the petrochemical front, he said that the world per capita petrochemical consumption is 10kg as against India’s 3kg. Strong demand in the future could make this project very attractive in terms of viability and sustainability. A large range of petrochemicals can be produced from the different refinery output used as critical raw materials across many industries.
Vijay Chauthaiwale, leading economist and Key Technical Member of NitiAayog – Policy Maker / Advisor, appreciated VED Council’s efforts and added that, normally, such big investments need a strong political push. Rao assured and informed him about such steps being taken, especially for the conducting of a techno-economic feasibility study, mandatory for such large projects, which, on meeting the standards alone, would help Vidarbha take the project forward.
From time to time VED Council has been inviting experts regarding this project. Earlier, Lalit Gupta, former MD ESSAR Oil, guided the VED Council team on various important aspects.
Other VED members who interacted with the experts during the discussions were Pradeep Maheshwari and Pankaj Mahajan – Vice-Presidents VED, Anil Rathi – Head of new investments forum, Varun Vijaywargi -Secretary-General, Devendra Parekh – Past President, Navin Malewar – Treasurer, Rajiv Agrawal – Industry Veteran, J. F. Salve – Ex- Regional Manager, SICOM, now Technical Adviser with Solar Explosives Ltd.
