During the Assembly Session in Nagpur, a VED Council delegation met the Hon’ble DCM, Devendra Fadnavis and Uday Samant, Hon’ble Minister of Industries at a meeting called to discuss developmental issues of Vidarbha, where presentations were made by the VED Council on two major issues proposed by them, which were taken up for further pursuing. The two issues were a petrochemical complex and a ferroalloys cluster in Vidarbha. Dr. Vipin Sharma, IAS, CEO, MIDC was entrusted with the responsibility of getting the MIDC to prepare survey reports on both these projects. In a bid to take these projects further, Deputy CEO, Upendra Tamore would be in Nagpur, specifically for interacting with officials and consultants, among them, noted refinery expert, Vinayak Marathe, ex- Senior VP, Reliance Industries, so that the projects can be taken forward and action initiated.
VED thanks the Hon’ble DCM, Minister of Industries and CEO, MIDC for their cooperation in this matter especially as VED Council has been consistently pursing these issues for almost a decade, they likely to be game-changers for the development of this region.
Vidarbha region suffers badly due to high costs of all the petroleum products and various petrochemicals, including items of day to day life. Considering the distance factor from its present sources, logistics, and other issues make it very expensive as compared to the other parts of the country. Petrochemical complexes give more than 60 products directly and indirectly used by many sectors. Therefore, the proposal, that a petro-chemical complex be established near Nagpur, which would be commercially viable and feasible due to reasons of this central location and its social impact and prospects would be greatly enriching for this region too.
Since large tracts of vacant land are available in Butibori Phase II, it is easy for the Govt. of Maharashtra to take the lead and ensure that this project is set up here, which would trigger industrial development and be yet another feather in the cap for MIDC.
The Petrochemical complex can attract investments of Rs. 4 lakh Cr. in Vidarbha directly. With a large number of allied and ancillary units that depend on refinery products as raw materials, would also be set up in the region. All these investments, put together, would attract a minimum of 5 lakhs of quality jobs. With these jobs of Rs. 25000+ in the region, districts like Gadchiroli, Bhandara, Gondia, Wardha and Amravati would also get a fair share of development.
New investments in paints, textiles, refinery derivatives, dyes and chemicals, critical petrochemicals – CPC, artificial rubber, industrial and medical plastics, construction polymers, industrial polymers, fertilisers, feed stocks, warehousing, fabrication, different types of service industries, many such opportunities would emerge in the region, which would witness an auto-mode of growth where each sector would support the other.
Effective and efficient utilization of local resources and their sustained and environment-friendly usage are the main objectives behind the development of a Ferro Alloys cluster. Back in the old days, around 40 years earlier, Nagpur and the surrounding areas of Vidarbha had the largest Ferro Alloys manufacturing hubs as leading industry houses came close to the source of raw material, i.e. manganese, which is mined abundantly in this area.
Due to various known reasons earlier ferroalloys units near Nagpur closed down mainly due to the inordinately high power tariff. Now the State Government has realised that simply by providing a reduced power tariff and providing a conducive environment, the Ferro alloys sector can be easily revived. A further impetus can be given to the raw material “Manganese”, which is mined locally, by giving it local value-addition, and along with the abundant available and locally-generated power at reduced tariffs, would provide employment and economic security to the local people, with gainful opportunities in the Ferro alloys cluster.
The success of this initiative will support not only the core Steel sector but other major consumers of Ferro Alloys.
