(TH)
The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) must abandon work on its cooking gas receiving jetty and storage facilities on Puthuvype island near Kochi as the project was unviable in such a thickly populated area, said a group of environmentalists led by former chairman of Kerala State Biodiversity Board V.S. Vijayan at a press conference here on Monday.
He said the project did not need a sea-face for its operations and it was not necessary that it was established on Puthuvype island. The public sector oil company could look at more viable places such as Ambalamugal if there was space, he said.
There remained a question mark over the need for such a project, said the environmentalists. When the project was drawn up in 2008, only 70% of the 4.5 lakh tonnes of LPG produced at the BPCL refinery in Kochi was being supplied in Kerala. With the expansion of the capacity of the refinery, LPG production will go up to 1.17 crore tonnes.
