March 7, 2019:

Out of Rs 79,000 crore of committed investment during the BJP-led government’s Advantage Assam global investors’ summit’ held in February last year, Rs 51,000 crore had already been invested.

Oil & Natural Gas Corp chairman Shashi Shanker said the state-run company would invest nearly Rs 13,000 crore in Assam over the next five years in exploration & production.

The investment that ONGCNSE -0.13 % has planned is 30% more than its budget for the previous five years, said Shanker, also the company’s managing director, who was in Guwahati on Friday.

“ONGC is part of the consortium which is working to connect all the north-eastern capitals with pipeline. Around Rs 6,000 crore is pumped in for this project,” he said.

On Friday, union minister for petroleum & natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurated nine projects in the hydrocarbon sector in Assam. These projects are worth more than Rs 1,500 crore in total.

North-eastern states have huge reserves of gas & now extensive pipeline infrastructure is being created in the region, the minister said, adding: “The Congress had neglected Northeast India. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is focused on the development of the region.”

He said: “Refining capacity of Numaligarh Refinery (in Assam) is increased from 3 million metric tonnes per annum (mmtpa) to 9 mmtpa at an estimated investment of Rs 22,594 crore.”

The union cabinet has cleared a 1,398-kilometre of crude oil pipeline from Paradip in Odisha to Numaligarh & another 6-mmtpa, 654-km product pipeline from Numaligarh to Siliguri. “From Siliguri we will send petroleum products to Bangladesh … to Myanmar, Bhutan & other Southeast Asian countries,” Pradhan said.

Assam’s industry minister, Chandra Mohan Patowary, said out of Rs 79,000 crore of committed investment during the BJP-led government’s Advantage Assam global investors’ summit’ held in February last year, Rs 51,000 crore had already been invested. “Earlier, for even getting a bridge, we had to take to agitation; now see the Government of India has sanctioned as many as six bridges & there is no agitation,” he said.

“The Guwahati airport operates 125 flights daily. We are soon going to have new airports in Ledo & Rupsi,” he said. “Six countries will be connected to Guwahati. Dhaka-Guwahati, Bangkok -Guwahati direct flights will start next month.”

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