Haldia, Dec 10 :     The state government?s dream project, Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL), will be commissioned on February 15 and commercial production will begin exactly a month later. Addressing reporters here today, state finance minister Asim Dasgupta said the Rs 5,100-crore project will better the international average of 39 months by reaching project completion in 36 month and 15 days. Confident of being able to face competition from Reliance Petrochemicals, HPL chairman Tapan Mitra said, ?HPL?s price will be better than Reliance?s. Technologically, some of the product grades are better than other manufacturers.? R. Saldanha, director and MD designate of HPL, said, ?Price-cutting is a short-sighted strategy,? when asked of HPL?s plans to combat the market leader. The authorities were, however, unable to name a single downstream project which is ready to buy HPL?s products. Dasgupta said the Rs 300-crore Polypark project of The Chatterjee Group has been shelved and, instead, the government is now following a more ?decentralised approach? to marketing HPL?s products. The current plan is to sell 35-40 per cent of its production through direct merchant sales and the rest to downstream projects. The target is to progressively increase sales to the latter to 80 per cent in the next four years. Saldanha later told The Telegraph that HPL will achieve 80 per cent capacity utilisation in the first calendar year of its operations. The products will be intensively marketed in the eastern and southern parts of the country, including eastern UP. ?Export is a key option and Bangladesh a likely destination. We have a whole list of clients, but we would not like to reveal the names at this stage,? he said. Dasgupta said there will be 354 downstream units in the first year, entailing an investment of Rs 432 crore. Of this, Rs 200 crore will come from the state?s banks, Dasgupta said. Admitting that negotiations were on with Indian Oil Corporation for a portion of non-promoters? equity, Dasgupta said a Rs 600-crore bridge equity loan has been tied up with the Industrial Development Bank of India. He said the project will employ 40,000 people by the end of the second year. This would go up to 2 lakh at the end of the fifth year.