Paradip set to take Odisha and eastern India forward
New Delhi   09-Mar-2016

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Paradip refinery

The state-of-the-art Paradip refinery of Indian Oil Corp. Ltd (IOCL), built at a cost of Rs.34,555 crore, was dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 7 February. The foundation stone for the project was laid by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in May 2000.

Paradip refinery is going to contribute significantly towards India's energy security. The INDMAX (Indane Maximisation) unit, built on indigenous technology developed by IOCL in its research and development facility, allows 40% more production of LPG from the same quantity of crude and this is by far the highest in the world.

The ability to produce more LPG from the same quantity of crude will certainly help to fulfil the prime minister's vision of providing clean fuel to more and more households—it is significant in the context ofWorld Health Organization data that annually, 500,000 deaths in India are linked to diseases caused by the smoke generated from using unclean fuel such as firewood, coal, etc.

The Paradip refinery is designed to process low-cost heavy crude; in fact, it can refine any type of crude. This will not only save foreign exchange for the country as heavy crude is cheaper, but will also allow us to geographically diversify our crude sourcing, including from Africa, Latin America and Russia.

Our prime minister has a clear vision for inclusive growth. As he has often said, unless the eastern part of India develops, the county will not be able to move ahead with full force. In other words, the development of eastern India is a necessary precondition for the development of India. That vision takes concrete steps towards reality as the Paradip refinery is poised to kick-start economic development in eastern India, especially Odisha. The Paradip project is going to be significantly different from past industrial projects, especially iron and aluminium industries, executed in Odisha. These were conceived to act as growth poles. Unfortunately, ancillary industries did not follow up as one would expect. Today, neither do we find a thriving auto industry dependent on iron and steel nor other industries producing finished products of aluminium in Odisha. Somewhere, we have failed.