Work on the nearly ₹1,900-crore petrochemicals park, being built under the supervision of Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Kinfra) on the Ambalamugal campus of Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore, is progressing towards completion and is expected to be ready for commissioning by the second half of this year.
The petrochemical park has aroused considerable interest among investors and 22 units have been allotted space on the 481-acre campus, sources said. A part of the phase A of the park will be allotted to pharmaceutical companies. Two units have already started functioning out of the petrochemical park. The State government accorded sanction for the project in 2018 to encourage downstream projects with the key raw material propylene from the Kochi Refinery of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) .
The infrastructure works for the green category general industries at the park include laying of high quality road network, power lines as well as a line for the water supply. Power, water, roads, rain water harvesting facility, effluent treatment plant and Gail pipeline are the infrastructure that will be made available at the Kinfra park. Sources said that work on the water connectivity is nearing completion.
A total of 399.62 acres of land has been earmarked for allotment in the park. Out of this, 199.8 acres has been allotted to 22 industries including BPCL. BPCL is the anchor investor in the park.
The oil refiner and marketing company has been allotted 170 acres for expansion of the Kochi Refinery. The project is expected to generate an investment of around ₹10,000 crores and create around 11,000 jobs on completion.
Apart from this, the park has so far attracted private investment of around ₹227.77 crore. With the completion of the construction work of the park, it is expected that an investment of around ₹4,000 crore and around 5,000 job opportunities will be created.
Sources also said that ₹977.47 crore has been sanctioned through Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board for land acquisition for the park and ₹202 crore has been sanctioned for developmental activities. In the period 2021-2022 itself, 13 ventures were allotted space in the park. Before the completion of the park itself three allotted spaces have been completed, the constructions and units have started functioning.
A few more units are expected to start operations soon. Through these units an investment of ₹136.11 crore has been invested and around 100 job opportunities have been created. Work on the administrative building and substation building has seen 80% progress so far. The water supply line works will be completed by July 2024 and the internal electrification and cable trench works are expected to be completed by October 2024.
