Work on IOC's Kochi LPG terminal to begin in January

With the final clearance from the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in hand, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is all set to re-start construction activities at its Rs. 2,200-crore LPG import terminal-cum-pipeline project at Puthuvypeen near Kochi.

Necessary orders in this regard have been issued by the Kerala government and the work is expected to commence in January, probably after the Sabarimala pilgrim season. The NGT judgment has made it amply clear that “there is no environmental pollution in the Puthuvypeen project,” said Mr. S. Dhanapandian, Deputy General Manager (LPG-project), IOC.

“We are incurring a loss of Rs. 1 crore per day since February 2017 due to suspension of work at the construction site in the wake of the agitation by the local community against the project,” he said.

Safety measures

IOC, he said, has adopted global standards on safety measures and one-third of the cost is being spent on safety. The risk analysis study conducted by Projects & Development India Ltd. (PDIL) has estimated the risk factor in a million chances per year, Mr. Dhanapandian said after displaying the safety features adopted at the company’s Ennore LPG terminal project. This terminal has safely handled 7.2-mt of LPG since its commissioning in 2012, he said.

No road movement

The Kochi terminal, with the pipelines connecting the bottling plant, will eliminate the movement of bulk LPG by road, he said. “Today, we receive nearly 125 bullet trucks of bulk LPG per day from Mangaluru to Kerala travelling around 1,000 km through narrow and curved roads, posing colossal accident risks and fire hazards,” he added.

The Kochi project consists of an import terminal, multi-user liquid terminal (MULT) jetty, Kochi-Salem pipeline and the bulk LPG terminal at Palakkad with a total investment of Rs. 2,200-crore. Of this, the Rs. 225-crore jetty is ready and the company has invested another Rs. 160-crore for construction activities. The physical progress of the work is only 40% complete, which includes ground improvement, land development, etc.

Kerala’s LPG demand

Mr. Dhanapandian said that early completion of the project will ensure LPG availability to the households across the counter. Kerala presently has an average waiting period of 15 days to receive a LPG refill. This could go up if the infrastructure expansion does not happen.