Third quarter launch set for Barmer project; CM, Union minister to sit for review every mth
It took three years for Vasundhara Raje government to rework the contractual agreement to build a refinery with oil major HPCL in ‘Rajasthan’s favour’. Now, the government has fast-tracked the project for a possible launch in three months, by October.
Sources told DNA, that the government wants the refinery work to be formally kicked off within the next quarter by October and is planning to get the project launched by none other than prime minister Narendra Modi. The process has already started to put the refinery on express mode after Additional Chief Secretary NC Goyal who is famous as the clean finisher in bureaucratic circles managed to get the breakthrough by getting HPCL to sign the reworked MoU on the table.
Laying of pipelines
The officials are already engaged in the process of getting the Right of Way (ROW) and Right of Use (ROU), which is the legal right to get grant for laying down of crude oil pipeline and water pipeline, respectively. For completion of these formalities, the sub divisional officer (SDO) of Balotra has been made the nodal officer for issuing permissions.
Monthly monitoring
For monitoring these activities on a day-to-day basis, a video conferencing will be conducted every month besides the regular chain of command that runs from the principal secretary oil and petroleum to the SDO at Balotra. “This video conferecing will be conducted between the chief minsiter and the union minister of petroleum, Dharmendra Pradhan to review the progress made till now,” Aparna Arora, principal secretary, mines and petroleum told DNA.
In such large projects, many clearances are needed from various agencies of the Union government and with the support of minsitry of petroleum these issues are being taken care off,” the officer said.
The review shall include HPCL officers and officers from the state who shall update on the project status, which the state government is looking to complete at breakneck speed.
Execution of lease deed
The main work is the execution of lease deed in favour of HPCL Rajasthan refienry Limited, the joint venture company formed between HPCL and the state government to carry out the project. Once this is done, the pre-project activities will start in a month’s time. Works like construction of boundary wall, land protection will be taken up.
Three-month deadline
Over the next three months, department of petroleum is aiming to get the various clerances. Department expects that the most tricky one is usually the environmental clerance, This is expected to be completed on a fast track mode in 3 months.
“The usual time taken to get EC in big projects is 7-8 months, we are aiming to get this completed in 3 months,” Arora said.
The process was intially intiated after the MOU was done by previous government with HPCL. To monitor these activities, the first of the meetings of the task force constituted for smooth working of the JV company was held at the secretatriat on Thursday.
HOW THE PROJECT IS BEING FAST-TRACKED
- The government has appointed the Balotra SDO as the resource person for issuing clearances at the local level to expedite project work
- Besides regular review at department’s level, a monthly review through video-conferencing is being done
- Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Union minister for oil and petroleum Dharmendra Pradhan shall review progress with state officials and HPCL representatives.
- Govt has decided to get the clearances including EC within 3 mths. In normal course it takes up to 8 mths
- Process of getting the Right of Way (ROW) and Right of Use (ROU) to lay oil and water pipelines has already started. Launch deadline has been settled for Oct-Dec quarter
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