HPCL hopes to go ahead with `37,230-cr Barmer refinery project

Hindustan Petroleum, which had last September announced setting up of a refinery at Barmer in Rajasthan, has expressed hope it will be able to go ahead with the Rs 37,230-crore project as scheduled and will be meeting state officials over the next 10 days to iron out key issues.

The government-run refiner is also confident that it will be able to get the environmental clearance and invite EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) bids shortly as the public hearing on the JV project is over.

'We hope to meet the state officials at the earliest and discuss their concerns. We hope to meet them over the next 10 days or so,' HPCL Chairperson and Managing Director Nishi Vasudeva told reporters here over the weekend when asked about reservations expressed by the BJP-led state administration headed by Vasundhara Raje who took charge last December.

The 9-million tonne refinery was the pet project of the previous Congress government headed by Ashok Gehlot and its foundation stone was laid by Congress president Sonia Gandhi in September. Facing elections, Gehlot had agreed to provide an interest-free loan of Rs 3,736 crore annually for 15 years from the date of commissioning of the refinery-cum-petrochem complex at Pachpadra in Barmer, in which Rajasthan government holds 26 per cent and HPCL the rest of the equity.