Maharashtra government mulls Raigad for oil refinery after Nanar no-go

The state plans to now build the refinery inside a proposed Integrated Industrial Township project in Raigad.

The Maharashtra government is considering an expansive plot of land in the Raigad district for its ambitious oil refinery project. The move comes after the BJP-led government, in February, agreed not to build the ₹3 lakh crore refinery in Ratnagiri’s Nanar, following opposition by locals and political parties, including its ally, the Shiv Sena.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. (Vijayanand Gupta/HT PHOTO)

The state plans to now build the refinery inside a proposed Integrated Industrial Township project in Raigad. On January 19, the state’s urban development department had issued a notification to acquire 19,147 hectares of land in four tehsils — Roha, Alibaug, Shrivardhan and Murud.

The City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) was appointed the special planning authority for the project, and it will soon begin acquiring land from around 40 villages in the area. Most of these villages are in Roha (21), followed by Murud (10 ), Alibaug (8) and Shrivardhan (1). The refinery project alone would require around 6,000 hectares.

Sources in the chief minister’s office told Hindustan Times the government was tapping the Raigad industrial township as a site for the refinery. CM Devendra Fadnavis has reportedly also met leaders across party lines in Raigad to build consensus over shifting of the refinery project to the district.

“We plan to acquire all land across the 40 villages, as it would make the process simpler,” said an official from urban development department. “For some of projects such as road construction, however, just the stipulated land will be acquired, for which we would need to do individual bargaining.”

The official added that CIDCO will issue a separate notification, after which the land acquisition will begin by the district collectorate — either by negotiation or under the land acquisition act.

The state government decided to move the refinery out of Nanar as it was one of the main conditions the Shiv Sena laid down, before it agrees to tie up with the BJP for the elections this year. Last week, the state announced it would de-notify all acquisitions it had made so far. However, Fadnavis clarified that his government will not allow the project go out of the state, as it could create 1.5 lakh jobs.

The refinery-cum-petrochemical project, with a capacity of 60-million tonnes a year, is considered to be the largest such facility in the world. In April last year, a firm called Saudi Aramco signed up as a partner in the project, with a potential investment of 50%. The project is being implemented by the Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (RRPL), a joint venture between three state-owned companies — Indian Oil Corporation (25%), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (12.5%) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (2.52%). Losing land for the project proved to be a major setback for the state, as it was considered to be one of the major investments made in the state. The urban development department official quoted earlier, however, pointed out that land acquisition at Raigad, too, may turn out be as difficult as it was at Nanar. “Most of the land to be acquired is privately owned by farmers, and so it would not be easy for us to acquire it,” he said.