ANANTH KUMAR FOR DAHEJ
Just like Wimbeldon is for tennis and Lords is for cricket, Dahej is the “kaashi” of chemical and petrochemical industry, quipped the Union minister Ananth Kumar for chemical and petrochemical industry at India Chem Gujarat 2017 held at Mahatma Mandir. He said that India’s first Central Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology (CICET) will be set up within this industrial zone in South Gujarat that also houses the only functional Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR).
WHY DAHEJ
“The union minister backed for Dahej because the government wanted to establish a specialised institution at Dahej which would work on the lines of CIPET (Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology) and for this preliminary investigations have already taken place. Mr. Ananth Kumar said that the Centre would put in all efforts to make Dahej PCPIR a success. He was of the view that if the Prime Minister wanted to give an example of a petrochemical hub to a foreign guest, then a Pardip or Nagapatannam, Vishakapatam, would not suffice but Dahej would sserve the purpose.
ANANTH KUMAR’S EXPECTATIONS
“The minister expects the Chief Minister of Gujarat to allocate 10-15 acres of land for this purpose at Dahej PCPIR region,” a place which provides employment to 1.37 lakh youth. He said that he wanted the present employment providing capacity to double because the vision statement says that Dahej is targeted to offer 8 lakh jobs by 2040”.
GUJARAT CHIEF MINISTER OBLIGES
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani readily obliged to the request of the Union Minister, Ananth Kumar for providing land for the project.
CENTRE’S ROLE FOR PCIPR
The minister said that the Centre had agrred to set up four PCPIRs in the states of Andhra Pradesh (Vishakhapatanam-Kakinada), Gujarat (Dahej), Odisha (Paradeep) and Tamil Nadu (Cuddalore-Nagapattinam). Speaking further he requested the Gujarat Chief Minister to send a proposal to the Centre for the Viability Gap Funding (VGF) which will be needed to make Dahej a success. Chief Ministers of other four states have already agreed to send VGF proposals. Gujarat has been hesitant in doing so because of its self-sustaining and progressive nature to which the Union Minister requested the Gujarat Chief Minister not to hesitate.
Mr. Ananth Kumar requested the Gujarat Chief Minister to organise a “Dahej investment summit” which could be a part of the Vibrant Gujarat summit or be a separate event for the next five years.
