From Our Correspondent
Agartala: Tripura Industries Minister Jitendra Chowdhury called upon the potential investors to set up a gas based industrial unit in Tripura as natural gas is available at attractive price.
Chowdhury, who was speaking in a business conference on Oil and Gas at a Kolkata based hotel, said the price of natural gas under APM throughout the country is $4.2 MMBTU while it is only $2.52 MMBTU (40% less) for the Northeast region.
“Setting up Urea complex, Urea-PVC complex, Urea-Methanol complex and solid hydro carbon are possible in Tripura taking advantage of subsidized gas price, availability of infrastructure and close proximity with Bangladesh”, he said.
He said several proposals for fertilizer-ammonia-methanol complexes were received by industrial houses like RPG, OSWAL and PSUs like KRBHCO and RCF but could not make headway due to shortage of gas. “But the situation is changing very rapidly in Tripura with the ONGC targeting to produce 5.5 MMSCMD by March 2013”, he stated.
“One of the significant aspects of the state’s location is that Tripura is surrounded by Bangladesh on three sides and the state shares 856 km border with Bangladesh. The state’s location and socio-economic linkage with Bangladesh position Tripura to be the potential hub for trade with and through Bangladesh for the entire NE India. Many important industrial and trade hubs of Bangladesh are within 100-150 km of cities and towns of Tripura”, he said.
Chowdhury further said, the state government has initiated series of development works to address future international trade. “The government is planning to construct a bridge over river Feni at Sabroom, which is the Southernmost part of the state.”
Business meet titled Business and Technological Innovations for Sustainable Energy was organized by Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Kolkata on Wednesday.