Bhubaneswar: The much hyped strategic oil reserve project proposed to be established at Dankari near Chandikhol in Jajpur district is delayed as the Centre-run company awaits land from Odisha Government.
This was informed by Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Suresh Gopi in Rajya Sabha today.
While replying to a question of BJD MP Manas Mangaraj, the Union Minister said the Government of India had approved the establishment of two additional commercial-cum-strategic petroleum reserve facilities with total storage capacity of 6.5 MMT including at Chandikhol, Dankari (Jajpur) (4 MMT) in Odisha ,on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode in July 2021.
The project cost was about Rs 9000 crore for potentially the largest reserve of the country which will boost GDP of the state and increase other auxiliary economic activities in the region, he said.
Accordingly, the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Limited (ISPRL) had completed the Detailed Feasibility Report (DFR) and geotechnical surveys for the project site in Chandikhol.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the project has also been carried out by National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur, Shri Gopi said.
In December 2022, the State government had requested ISPRL to explore other sites in Odisha, he informed.
“In view of anticipated delay in pursuing alternate land and need for carrying out feasibility studies once again, Government of Odisha has been requested to allocate the same land at Chandikhol for which ISPRL had earlier submitted application and completed feasibility studies,” the Minister said in his statement to the Upper House of Parliament.
As per preliminary assessments, he said, the project has potential to generate employment for about 4000 persons per day during the construction phase and about 150 persons per day during the operational phase.