| Total investment will be Rs. 3,506 cr. for 49 p.c. stake in Bhatinda refinery |
Steel plants in Orissa, Jharkhand on course
To meet Orissa, Jharkhand chief ministers
PRESTIGIOUS PARTICIPATION: (from left) Aditya Mittal, M. S. Srinivasan, Petroleum Secretary, L. N. Mittal, and Murli Deora, Petroleum Minister, at a meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday.
NEW DELHI: Kick starting the process for giving a concrete shape to the long pending Bhatinda Oil Refinery project, L. N. Mittal on Wednesday paid a Rs. 500-crore cheque as part of the first instalment of the Rs. 3,506 crore investment for picking up a 49 per cent stake in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation's Rs. 18,919-crore refinery in Punjab.
"We want the project to take off now as it has already faced delays. Already four foundation stone laying ceremonies have been held and going by the speed at which the project is being pursued now, there should not be any delay in implementing it or any cost increase," Mr. Mittal said.
The Rs. 500-crore is equivalent to the amount HPCL has till date spent on the project. The two companies will hold 49 per cent stake each in the project and the balance two per cent would be held by Indian financial institutions. After the payment, Mr. Mittal was allocated equity shares in Guru Gobind Singh Refineries Limited, the company implementing the project.
Mr. Deora praised the Congress leadership particularly Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh and party president Sonia Gandhi for keeping with the promise of beginning work on the project despite electoral reverses in the state.
Mittal Energy Investments Pte Limited, a subsidiary of Mittal Investments, has parked $110 million in an escrow account as guarantee for its 49 per cent stake in the nine million tonne refinery project. With the payment of Rs. 500 crore, the escrow account has been dissolved.
Mr. Deora said the Government had last month made a one-time exception in FDI norms for refineries to accommodate Mr. Mittal in the project. At present, FDI in a public sector refinery is permitted up to only 26 per cent. The investment by Mr. Mittal was the first and the largest FDI brought into the petroleum refining sector, Mr. Deora said.
The refinery also involves laying a 1,011-km pipeline from Mundra in Gujarat for transportation of crude oil.
Later, the Chief Minister of Punjab, Prakash Singh Badal, called on Mr. Deora and conveyed that the State Government would extend full support to the project.
Two steel plantsMr. Mittal said his firm's two steel plants in Orissa and Jharkhand with ten million tonnes capacity each were on course expressing hope that iron ore and coal mines for the projects would be allocated soon. The two steel plants would each need 600 million tonnes of iron ore over 30 years and the company was preparing a feasibility report on the ventures, he said.
Mr. Mittal had in October 2005 announced a $9-billion steel plant in Jharkhand. But due to slow progress on the venture, he signed a similar accord with the Orissa Government in December 2006.
However, he did not spell out when construction on the two steel plants would start.
Mr. Mittal said he and his son Aditya Mittal, who is also the company CFO, would meet Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda to reaffirm the commitment to setting up the steel plants in both States.
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