Patna (PTI): In a bid to develop Bihar as an ethanol hub, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday urged the Centre to ensure presidential assent to the legislation passed by the state legislature and relax the amendment of the Sugar (Control) Order.

The NDA government in the state has planned to promote the ethanol hub and export ethanol to help boost Bihar's economy. Several entrepreneurs had come forward with proposals to set up their ethanol units, he said here.

Mr. Kumar said he wrote to Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Thursday informing him that the state government had initiated certain amendments to Bihar Sugarcane Regulation of Supply and Purchase) Amendment Bill, 2007 seeking teeth to facilitate production of ethanol from sugarcane juice.

The bill was passed by the state legislature in March 2007 and forwarded for Presidential assent.

The State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB) had approved 13 mega projects - 10 of them sugarcane based and three maize based for ethanol production. The proposed capacity of the sugarcane based ethanol plants was 25,000 tonnes crushing per day and each of the maize based plants would produce 1,25,000 tonnes of ethanol and 36,000 tonnes extra neutral alcohol apart from other chemicals and products, he said.