Numaligarh Refinery

Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal assured all support from the State government for timely completion of NRL expansion project.

While taking stock of preliminary work of implementation of the project with NRL officials at Numaligarh on Saturday, Sonowal urged the Mini-Ratna officials to adhere to the timeframe as per roadmap prepared for execution of the expansion project.

The foundation stone of the project was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January this year.

He said that as the bio-fuel plant is expected to generate huge direct and indirect employment, NRL must carry out a study to identify the size of skilled manpower required to run the plant as well as the ancillary industries so that necessary skill development initiatives could be taken up beforehand.

Underlining the need to engage district administration and the DICC in generating skilled manpower, the CM also requested the NRL officials to prepare an assessment report to guide the government on skill enhancement and maximization of people’s involvement in the proposed project.

He observed that such an endeavor would help in developing people’s belonging and ownership with the project.

Sonowal expressed hope that augmentation of capacity of NRL would not only benefit its production capacity but also make the State visible in the industrial landscape of the South East Asia.

The cabinet committee on economic affairs approved the project in 2019 and the construction on the proposed 6 MMTPA refinery would start from 2020 with mechanical completion by 2023.

During the meeting, NRL MD SK Baruah also handed over the Chief Minister the company’s final dividends of Rs. 27.24 crore. Altogether Rs. 154 crore dividends have been given to the State government by NRL during the current year.