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India - Saudi Arabia $44 billion mega oil refinery project in doldrums
21 May, 2018
NEW DELHI - At the International Energy Forum in Delhi in April, the world’s top oil producer Saudi Aramco inked a preliminary deal to partner with a consortium of Indian players to build $44 billion refinary and petrochemical project on India’s west coast.
The huge project was touted as a game changer for both parties — offering Indiasteady fuel supplies and meeting Saudi Arabia’s need to secure regular buyers for its oil. Despite the obvious benefits, though, the prospects for the plan — in the works since 2015 — are growing dimmer by the day.
READ MORE: India initiates unproved and intentional ceasefire violation with heavy weapons
Thousands of farmers oppose the refinery and are refusing to surrender land, fearing it could damage a region famed for its Alphonso mangoes, vast cashew plantations and fishing hamlets that boast bountiful catches of seafood.
“We earn enough to fulfil our needs and we do not want to surrender our lands for a refinery at any cost,” says Sandesh Desai, standing amid his fruit-laden mango orchard in Nanar, a village in Ratnagiri district, some 400 km south of Mumbai.
READ MORE: Pakistan beat India to win gold in int’l taekwondo championship
Land acquisition has always been a contentious issue in rural India , where a majority of the population depends on farming for its livelihood.
And while Prime Minister Narendra Modi has tried to ease land acquisition rules to jumpstart delayed projects worth tens of billions of dollars, the government has faced resistance to amending populist laws enacted by his predecessors.
READ MORE: 9 killed in truck-bus collision in central India
Like Desai, a majority of the farmers from 14 villages around Ratnagiri that need to be relocated for the refinery project firmly oppose the plan, a state government official told *Reuters*.
Opposition politicians and even a local ally of Modi’s Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) support the farmer movement, complicating matters further for the government ahead of state and general elections in 2019.
The state government, which is responsible for acquiring the land for the project, has so far failed to secure even one acre of the roughly 15,000 acres needed for the refinery, Maharashtra Industries Minister Subhash Desai told *Reuters*.
Some believe that the opponents are only objecting to get better compensation packages for their land.
“Eventually all stakeholders will give their consent, but it will take time,” said Ajay Singh Sengar, who heads a rival forum that supports the refinery project.
21 May, 2018
NEW DELHI - At the International Energy Forum in Delhi in April, the world’s top oil producer Saudi Aramco inked a preliminary deal to partner with a consortium of Indian players to build $44 billion refinary and petrochemical project on India’s west coast.
The huge project was touted as a game changer for both parties — offering Indiasteady fuel supplies and meeting Saudi Arabia’s need to secure regular buyers for its oil. Despite the obvious benefits, though, the prospects for the plan — in the works since 2015 — are growing dimmer by the day.
READ MORE: India initiates unproved and intentional ceasefire violation with heavy weapons
Thousands of farmers oppose the refinery and are refusing to surrender land, fearing it could damage a region famed for its Alphonso mangoes, vast cashew plantations and fishing hamlets that boast bountiful catches of seafood.
“We earn enough to fulfil our needs and we do not want to surrender our lands for a refinery at any cost,” says Sandesh Desai, standing amid his fruit-laden mango orchard in Nanar, a village in Ratnagiri district, some 400 km south of Mumbai.
READ MORE: Pakistan beat India to win gold in int’l taekwondo championship
Land acquisition has always been a contentious issue in rural India , where a majority of the population depends on farming for its livelihood.
And while Prime Minister Narendra Modi has tried to ease land acquisition rules to jumpstart delayed projects worth tens of billions of dollars, the government has faced resistance to amending populist laws enacted by his predecessors.
READ MORE: 9 killed in truck-bus collision in central India
Like Desai, a majority of the farmers from 14 villages around Ratnagiri that need to be relocated for the refinery project firmly oppose the plan, a state government official told *Reuters*.
Opposition politicians and even a local ally of Modi’s Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) support the farmer movement, complicating matters further for the government ahead of state and general elections in 2019.
The state government, which is responsible for acquiring the land for the project, has so far failed to secure even one acre of the roughly 15,000 acres needed for the refinery, Maharashtra Industries Minister Subhash Desai told *Reuters*.
Some believe that the opponents are only objecting to get better compensation packages for their land.
“Eventually all stakeholders will give their consent, but it will take time,” said Ajay Singh Sengar, who heads a rival forum that supports the refinery project.
