Haldia Petrochem project commissioned

By Our Staff Reporter

CALCUTTA, APRIL 2. The Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mr. Jyoti Basu, today commissioned the mother unit of the Rs. 5170-crore Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd. (HPL) project and dedicated the 420- KPTA naptha cracker plant to the nation.

Standing on the verge of retirement, Mr. Basu's dreams came true today - he had planned the project soon after assuming office 23 years ago.

Proposed during the tenure of the Morarji Desai Government at the Centre, Eastern India's only petrochemical complex has had to overcome a series of hurdles before coming to the production stage. The project got the required approval only in 1989. The then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, laid the foundation stone ``only three days before the formal announcement of the next Lok Sabha election'', Mr. Basu recalled.

That was not all. The RPG group backed out, refusing to be the private partner in this joint-sector project. Tata Tea then entered the picture in 1990. The escalation of the project cost, from the initial Rs. 428 crores, made the Tatas rethink. They, too, decided to withdraw.

``The situation, however, could be salvaged as the late J.R.D Tata came to our rescue and TELCO agreed to be the representative of the Tata group in the joint venture,'' the Chief Minister said.

The Tatas maintained their presence and held 14 per cent (Rs. 144 crore) of the Rs. 1010 crores of promoters' contribution in the equity. However, they did not like being the torch-bearer of the project. Thus entered Dr. Purnendu Chatterjee and his Chatterjee- Soros Fund Management Ltd. of the U.S in 1994. The latter picked up 43 per cent (Rs. 433 crores) of the sponsored equity.

The rest of the story is comparatively simpler: four years went in tieing up the loose ends, especially in finalising the participation of financial institutions. The zero-date began on January 30, 1997. The project was completed under the guidance of Dr. Chatterjee in a record 38 months. ``The world average in commissioning a similar petro project is 40 months and the India average is 48 months,'' said the State Finance Minister, Dr. Asim Dasgupta.

Politically, the Left Front Government proved an obvious point through the commissioning of the HPL project.

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