The Mamata Banerjee-government has approved a proposal to allot 98.53 acres to MCPI on Tuesday to set up a new purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant at an investment of Rs 4,500 crore in Haldia.

The cabinet sub committee on industry and infrastructure approved the proposal moved forward by the urban development department after going through the detailed project report (DPR) submitted by the company, which is now owned by The Chatterjee Group.

Purnendu Chatterjee, founder and chairman of TCG, had announced the project during a business road show organised by the Bengal government in Frankfurt on September 18.

“I walked in from the airport yesterday and I met the chief minister. She saw me and said, look, I have cleared the land for you,” Chatterjee had then said.

The government on Tuesday formalised the proposal in less than a month from the Frankfurt meet.

In the interim, Chatterjee also gifted a Rs 653-crore bounty to the Bengal government by buying out the state’s 15 per cent stake in Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd.

“The company has proposed to invest Rs 4,500 crore and it has mentioned that a total of 1,000 employment opportunities will be generated. This will help Haldia to move forward,” Subhendu Adhikari, who is the state transport minister as well as the chairman of the Haldia Development Authority, said after the cabinet meeting.

Sources present at the meeting pointed out that the state had decided that the land would be given at the current market price and the registration would be done at the earliest so that work for the project can start soon.

“The Trinamul-led state government is very sensitive about land and it does not want to face any questions on land dealings. This is why no concession will be given to the company on land,” said a source.

Adhikari said the land was given to the company from the land bank of the state.

“After coming to power, the land bank was created. There was land available in Haldia for industry and a portion of that will be transferred for the project,” said Adhikari.

MCPI Private Ltd, the company operating the 1.25mt PTA plant at Haldia, was looking for adjacent land to expand its existing capacity. PTA is a petrochemicals intermediate product, which is a raw material for several items, including polyester fabric and plastic bottles.

While in Frankfurt, Chatterjee had said he would deploy new technology to produce PTA as land would no longer be a constraint. “We are close to finalising technology for the unit,” he said.

The company will start the project once environment clearances are in place and finances are tied up.

When TCG, which also owns HPL, took over the company from Japanese major Mitsubishi Chemicals in July 2016, the unit was in the BIFR.