Hyderabad: The state-owned petroleum major, Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) faced a major retard with the rejection of green clearance for its expansion plan at Vishakh Refinery by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).
“The MoEF has rejected the clearance as there is a moratorium on industrial expansions in some parts of Visakhapatnam, where the company proposed expansion,” expressed an official of HPCL.
“The committee (under the MoEF) noted that the project proposal falls under critically polluted area. And as per the office memo on January 13, 2010, Ministry has imposed moratorium on further industrialization in that particular area of Visakhapatnam. The ban has not been lifted yet. Therefore, the project was not considered for approval,” the official added.
Recently the petroleum giant has approached the Environment Ministry seeking clearance for the expansion of its refinery from 8.33 MMTPA to 15.00 MMTPA at Visakhapatnam District in Andhra Pradesh.
EPC World News Bureau
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