The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Work on SBM to begin soon

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 23, 2004

Kerala

Kerala - Kochi

Work on SBM to begin soon

By Our Staff Reporter

KOCHI, MAY 22. Work on the Rs. 628-crore Single Buoy Mooring (SBM) facility for Kochi Refineries Limited (KRL) is expected to begin as soon as the Union Ministry of Forests and Environment clears the project.

The Union Ministry is expected to clear the project in July. The information was made available at a meeting convened here on Saturday here in the presence of the Minister for Youth Welfare, M. A. Kuttappan, said a press release from the District Information Office.

The SBM will be set up 19.5-km away from the Puthuvype shore and it is part of a Rs. 3,000-crore plan for new projects drawn up by the KRL to be completed by 2010. The setting up of the SBM is in tandem with a plan by KRL to expand its refining capacity from 7.5 million tonnes to 13.5 million tonnes.

The SBM will be necessary to service very large crude carriers which otherwise cannot be serviced in the conventional mode. Six large crude tanks for crude will be set up on the Puthuvype Island. KRL authorities told the Saturday meeting that no displacement of people would be necessary for setting up the SBM and the auxiliary facilities.

The SBM project has received a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Kerala State Pollution Control Board and also clearance from the Coastal Management Authority, said the press release.

Since the SMB facility is coming up close to the Cochin Port Trust territory, KRL and the Port had signed a memorandum of understanding on the project in June last year.

The press release said that the project would be able to provide employment to about 1,500 people on a daily basis. It said that rain water would be tapped to meet the fresh water requirements of the project. It also claimed that the SBM project was capable to changing the face of the Vypeen Island.

The KRL chairman and managing director, B. K. Menon, and the Cochin Port Trust chairman, Jacob Thomas, among others attended Saturday's meeting.

The setting up of SBM forms part of the second phase of the capacity-cum-modernisation programme being undertaken by KRL. Quality upgradation to meet Euro III emission norms is one of the major components of the programme envisaged by the KRL.

Engineers India Limited prepared the Detailed Feasibility Report for the project and the SBM facility was mooted to cut the cost of crude transport and handling. The SBM facility is expected to be in place by July 2006.

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