Petrochemical park to boost Kerala's industrial growth

KOCHI: Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (KINFRA) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding for co-operation in the petrochemical park project to be set up by KINFRA.

The MoU for the park was signed by KINFRA MD Santosh Koshy Thomas and BPCL Marketing Executive Director Subhikash Jena in the presence of Industries Minister P Rajeev at Thiruvananthapuram and is slated to be completed by 2024.

''The park, which is coming up in the 481 acre at Ambalamugal near here, aims at the industrial and economic growth of the state along with job creation,'' the state government said in a release.

BPCL, a major player in the petrochemical industry, has been allotted 171 acre land for the project while in 250 acres, other petrochemical industrial units will function. The state government said these industrial units will function using the raw materials supplied by the BPCL.

Industries Department secretary K Ilangovan, Director S Harikishore, BPCL Kochi Refineries Executive Director Sanjay Khanna, among others, were present during the signing of the MoU.

PDPP and Petrochemical Park

The petrochemical park is being set up near the Kochi refinery as part of BPCL's Propylene Derivatives Petrochemical Project (PDPP) with an investment of Rs 6,000 crore. PDPP produces acrylic acids, acrylates and oxo alcohols.

Acrylic acids and acrylates are the raw materials for paints, coatings, inks, adhesives, cosmetics, medicines and detergents. PDPP will help attract companies in this field to Kochi.

The petrochemical park will have the infrastructure to operate the units of such companies.

KINFRA will provide space, road, water and electricity for the units.

Expected investment of one lakh crore

The state government expects that an investment of Rs 1 lakh crore will come to the petrochemical park. The construction cost of the park is Rs 1,427 crore. 10,000 people will get jobs.