West Coast refinery will be built in Maharashtra, says Fadnavis

The state has conveyed to the Centre that it would expect higher compensation to be given for land acquired from 17 villages for the project. The compensation will be at least four times the market rate.

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After the BJP government decided to locate the project in the state, there have been protests from alliance partner Shiv Sena.

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray had said, “The Shiv Sena will not allow the West Coast Refinery in Konkan. We will fight against the project.”

He said if the BJP is so keen, let them take the project to Gujarat, or Nagpur, the home town of Fadnavis.

Fadnavis said, “We are confident of dispelling apprehensions about the project in some quarters. We will hold discussions and remove their doubts.”

A highly placed source in the Sena said, “A section within the BJP already held discussions with some Sena leaders. Efforts are being made to persuade the Sena not to protest against the project, specially as it would bring investments and provide jobs to villagers in Konkan.”

A senior Sena minister said, “We are not against development. If Fadnavis guarantees there would be no harm to the envionment and people are rehabilitated, why should we protest.”

Land acqusition will involve 17 villages: Nanar, Sagwe, Taral, Karsinghewadi, Vadapalle, Villye, Dattawadi, Padekarwadi, Katradevi, Karvine, Chowke, Upade, Padwe, Sakhar, Gothiware, Girye and Rameshwar. The land required for the project is 14,675 acres. Of this, the government land available is only 126 acres. The rest is private land. The land identified for the refinery is rocky and not conducive for agriculture purposes, said a source.

Earlier in Delhi, an Indian consortium of Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation signed an MoU with Saudi Aramco to jointly develop and build an integrated refinery and petorchemical complex, Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd, in Maharashtra.

The Union government estimates the cost of the project to be Rs 3 lakh crore. The refinery is expected to process 60 million tonne of crude oil per annum. The government expects the project, in partnership between the Indian consortium and Saudi Armaco in a 50:50 ratio, to be completed by 2025.