Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Kochi and inaugurated various projects in kerala State yesterday among which is included Integrated Refinery Expansion Project Complex at Kochi. The complex will be a modern and the largest PSU Refinery in India with world class standards. It will the produce better than LPG & diesel and start producing of feedstock for petrochemical projects in this plant.
Inaugurating the Complex the Prime Minister said, that it was a historic day when the largest industrial unit of Kerala is entering its next phase of development Talking about the efforts made by the Government, PM said Ujjwala has brought cheers to many and nearly six crore LPG connections haveresulted to the households of the poorest of the poor since May 2016. More than 23 crore LPG consumers have joined the Pahal scheme. The transparency in the scheme has allowed to identify fake accounts, multiple accounts and inactive accounts. Over 1 crore customers have given up LPG subsidies. PM defined the role of Kochi refinery and said it will make a great contribution towards Ujjwala Yojana, by doubling the LPG production with the help of the recent expansion.
PM declared also that India as the second largest oil refiner in Asia is emerging as a refining hub. He congratulated all for the timely completion of IREP, especially the labourers who worked day and night during the construction. He continued that at the peak of the project over 20000 citizens were working at the site and they are the real heroes of the project.
He appreciated the strategic move of BPCL to diversify into non fuel sector by this project. The Prime Minister has expressed happiness that Kochi refinery will now be able to produce propylene after execution of IREP. Besides the other niche petrochemicals will find use in different products such as paints, inks, coating, detergent and many other articles. He expressed hope that all these many ancillary industries will come to Kochi and job opportunities will be expanded.
