Cluster has attracted more than ₹1 lakh crore in investments

Gujarat’s Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) set up in Dahej has become one of the fastest-growing industrial clusters in the country, having attracted more than ₹1 lakh crore investments in 180 industrial units already functional and 650 units at various stages of construction since the cluster was approved in 2009.

Set up on an area of 453 sq km, the PCPIR in the coastal town of Dahej has demarcated an area of 23,005 hectares, or 230 sq km, as the processing zone where factories are being set up or have been set up. The anchor tenant in the entire region is ONGC Petro additions Ltd. (OPAL), which was commissioned in 2017 with an investment of ₹27,700 crore.

“Among all PCPIRs approved by the Centre, Dahej PCPIR is the fastest-growing with more than 180 factories/plants already commissioned and 650 at various stages of construction,” said M. Thennarasan, MD of Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), the nodal agency for industries in the State.

“We are getting a large number of enquiries, seeking land to set up manufacturing units in the region. In last two months, as many as 97 projects worth ₹6,000 crore have been approved and land plots allotted to them for setting up their manufacturing units in the region,” Mr. Thennarasan said.

He added small and medium- sized companies were coming mostly from China to set up their units here.

At present, PCPIRs are being set up in four coastal States of Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Tamil Nadu. The proposals of Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh were approved in 2009 while Odisha received approval in 2010. Tamil Nadu secured approval in 2012.

“In Dahej PCPIR, we have already received investments of ₹1,12,082 crore, including ₹95,123 crore by manufacturing units while ₹16,959 crore has been invested in infrastructure development in the region,” Mr. Thennarasan told The Hindu, sharing details of the industrial zone.

The industries set up in the region had generated 45,000 direct jobs and 1.35 lakh indirect jobs.

The Gujarat Government is expecting a further investment of ₹1,05,898 crore once it is fully developed in the next five years. “Considering the enquiries we are getting for land requirements in the region, we will soon be saturated. We are getting a large number of Chinese firms, especially in chemical sector,” he added.

In case of other PCPIRs, construction work, stalled in Tamil Nadu since 2011, is yet to start while anchor tenant for Andhra Pradesh, HPCL, is yet to come on board. Gujarat and Paradeep in Odisha are the only PCPIRs where anchor tenants had commissioned their projects.