(T.A.T)
PSU major Indian Oil Corp (IOC) is planning three new plants in the Northeast to increase its LPG bottling capacity by nearly 53 percent to eight crore cylinders annually by 2030 to meet the growing demand in the region. IOC Executive Director (IndianOil-AOD) G Ramesh said the proposed new LPG bottling plants will come up in Mizoram, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh at a total investment of Rs 325-350 crores in a combination of wholly-owned and public-private-partnership (PPP) models.
“We are expanding our bottling capacities in order to meet the growing demand of LPG in the northeastern region. We target to have bottling capacity of eight crore cylinders per annum by 2030 against a projected demand of seven crore units,” he told PTI. “We had two units at Kimin in Arunachal Pradesh and Mualkhang in Mizoram. These old plants were smaller and did not conform to newer safety norms. So, these were shut down and the new bigger plants will come up,” Ramesh explained.
The Mizoram plant, which is still at the estimation stage as adjoining lands are being acquired, will have a daily capacity of 30,000 cylinders and it is likely to cost Rs 150 crores, he added. “The Meghalaya plant will be set up at Umiam and it will be a greenfield unit. We will invest Rs 75 crores and the plant will be commissioned by December 2023 with a capacity to roll out 7,000 cylinders every day,” the official said.
