Dibrugarh, Feb. 5: Prime minister Narendra Modi today said it was important to think ahead of time when it came to planning schemes and initiatives.
Dedicating the Rs 10,000-crore Assam gas cracker project being executed by the Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Ltd and the wax project by Numaligarh Refinery Ltd at Lepetkata in Dibrugarh district today to the nation, Modi said, “The problem in the country is that that we cannot think before time, and even if we do, we cannot make a roadmap, and then we make announcements and wait for the foundation-stone laying.”
The Assam Gas Cracker Project is an offshoot of the Assam Accord signed on August 15, 1985, while the approval of the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs came in 2006.
In 2007, the Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Ltd was formed to implement the Assam Gas Cracker Project.
GAIL (India) Ltd is the main promoter of BCPL with 70 per cent equity participation and the rest 30 per cent is equally shared by Oil India Ltd (OIL), Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) and the Assam government.
The plant will have the capacity to manufacture 2,80,000 tonnes of polymer products per annum, which will result in the growth of new downstream plastic-processing industries in the region, besides reducing dependency on polymer supply from other parts of the country.
Modi said the two projects being dedicated to the nation today were important for two reasons — for the value addition they would achieve for natural raw materials and for the employment opportunities they would create for the youth of Assam.
On the delays in the project, Modi said he should not have had the opportunity to inaugurate these projects and that this should have been done long ago.
The projects take a long time to complete after the foundation stone is laid and then people forget about them, he said.
“This is how projects which should have cost Rs 500 crore now cost Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 1,500 crore. Such a long delay is a loss to the economy,” he said. “In our government we have tried to complete and execute the projects irrespective of whose dream it was and who had laid the foundation stone.”
Highlighting the importance of completing projects in time, the Prime Minister said this would ensure employment generation, and avoid massive cost overruns.
He spoke of the PRAGATI initiative, which he said, was giving impetus to revive stalled projects worth lakhs of crore rupees.
He said the initiatives of the Centre, including MUDRA and Start-up India, are aimed at creating fresh opportunities for youth.
He said employment opportunities have to be created not just in big cities but in smaller towns too.
He reiterated that eastern India must develop for the all-round development of the country.
In this context, he said the Centre was paying special attention to the Northeast by boosting infrastructure and connectivity.
Narendra Dutta, a resident of Lepetkata, said the people were very positive that the project would generate employment opportunities for youth.
“We were waiting to see Narendra Modi for a long time,” he said.
Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi said the Congress had played an equally important role in making the project a reality.
Gogoi said he had been related to this project from the beginning but nobody from the BJP had announced his name.
He praised former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and late Rajiv Gandhi for their untiring efforts to give the gas cracker project to Assam.
“The baby is now in the hands of Modi and I believe they will take the project in their own style and create more employment opportunities for the development of the region,” he said.
The programme was attended by Union minister of chemicals and fertilisers Ananth Kumar, Union minister of state (in-charge), petroleum and natural gas, Dharmendra Pradhan, Union minister of state (in-charge), youth affairs and sports, Sarbananda Sonowal, besides other dignitaries.
