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Journalism of Courage
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NEW DELHI, May 29: Ignoring the objections raised by the petroleum ministry, the board of Bharat Petroleum Corporation approved the proposal for setting up a Rs 7,346 crore petrochemicals complex in Tamil Nadu, the home state of the Minister for Petroleum, T R Baalu. While none of the queries raised during BPCL’s board meet were answered satisfactorily, the major objection did not even find mention in the new proposal.
On May 10, ministry officials raised queries over the project’s financial viability asking BPCL to reconsider the foray in the wake of finance ministry’s announcement of lowering import duty rates to East Asian levels.
While defering the proposal, they had argued that the domestic petrochemicals market — reeling under pressure due to duty reductions in the 1997-98 budget — would not be able to stave off international competition once duties are reduced further.
They also questioned the corporation’s ability to finance the project and sought details whether an assured market existed considering the gap between demand and supply as well as the fact that Madras Refineries Limited was considering a similar project.
