10000 acres needed for chem hub

Calcutta, May 22: The government today clarified that it would not need to acquire more than 10,000 acres for a chemical hub in Haldia.

“As Indian Oil, Mitsubishi and other chemical and petrochemical units will be incorporated into the proposed 25,000-acre chemical hub, the need for fresh acquisition will go down,’’ Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee told The Telegraph.

Asked how much land still needs to be acquired, the chief minister said: “We should not go into that arithmetic now.’’

Commerce and industries secretary Sabyasachi Sen, however, put it at 10,000 acres.

The existing units cover around 6,000 acres, which will be part of the hub.

“The Centre’s Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region policy says 25,000 acres are required for a chemical hub. We’ll try to convince the Centre to allow us to begin with around 16,000 acres,’’ Sen said.

The hub, he said, need not be contiguous and can be built in different parts of Haldia and adjoining areas. “It will be a special economic zone that will primarily focus on chemical industries, but we’ll also welcome non-chemical industries,’’ Sen said.

The agreement between the state and a Salim Group-led consortium had envisaged two SEZs in Haldia and adjoining Nandigram — one for chemicals and the other for multiple products.