Prime Minister Narendra Modi Inaugurates Assam Gas Cracker Project Friday Feb 05,2016

After 31 years, Rs 9,965 cr Assam gas cracker project sees light of day

The Assam gas cracker project, whose cost almost doubled due to the inordinate delay including a change of the project site, finally saw the light of the day after 31 years on Friday Feb 05,2016 with Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicating it to the nation at Lepetkota near Dibrugarh.

 The gas cracker project, an outcome of the Assam Accord of 1985, saw seven prime ministers. Of them, the first site where PV Narasimha Rao had laid the foundation stone in 1995 was abandoned, with Manmohan Singh laying the same at Lepetkota in 2007. The project cost escalated from an original Rs 5600 crores to Rs 9965 crores as the prime minister inaugurated it.

Set up as a public sector unit, the Brahmaputra Cracker & Polymer Ltd (BCPL) has GAIL as its main promoter holding 70 per cent equity participation, with Oil India Ltd (OIL), Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) and the Assam government holding 10 per cent each.  

The second petro-chemical complex in the region as well as in Dibrugarh district, it will produce 2.20 lakh tons of LLDPE/HDPE, 60,000 tons of polymer-grade polypropylene, 55,750 tons of pyro-gasoline and 12,500 tons of fuel oil per day.