Reliance Industries Jamnagar Refinery News Gujarat India

India's top refiner Reliance Industries plans to shut down a 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) vacuum gas oil (VGO) hydrotreater at its old refinery for about a month later this week, an industry source said on Monday.

"VGO hydrotreater will be shut for 20-30 days to change the catalyst. The shutdown will begin from Wednesday or Thursday," the source told reporters.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Industries operates the world's biggest refining complex, at Jamnagar City in Western Gujarat State, which has a total processing capacity of 1.24 million bpd of crude.

Reliance's old 660,000 bpd refinery at Jamnagar has two VGO units each with 100,000 bpd capacity. The source said there would be no impact on throughput due to the shutdown.

A VGO hydrotreater removes sulphur from heavy feedstock to produce naphtha, jet fuel and liquefied petroleum gas.

Poshitra Port Marine National Park Jamnagar District News Gujarat India

The ministry of environment and forests has denied permission to set up a port in Jamnagar.

Experts in the ministry said the port was to be set up in an ecologically fragile area and would have destroyed the biodiversity. “A standing committee has rejected the permission to carry out environmental impact assessment and risk assessment for establishment of a Poshitra Port Jamnagar District Gujarat India. The proposed site falls within Gulf of Kutch Marine National Park which is very rich in marine biodiversity,” a senior official of the ministry said.

The 18th meeting of standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife was held on April 12. Senior officials in the ministry said the decision was made on the basis of a report of MS Swaminathan Committee that had recommended that no port should be developed in or around protected areas and ecologically fragile zones. “Members of the standing committee had carried out a detailed site inspection and recommended against the proposal,” the official said. Taking a tough stand against commercial use of resources from ecologically fragile zones, the standing committee also rejected a proposal to withdraw water from the Majthal Wildlife Sanctuary and laying of pipeline for carrying water for expansion of a cement plant by Ambuja Cement Pvt Ltd. The proposal was rejected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Jamnagar City Railway Station News Samachar Gujarat India

With a view to exploit its real estate assets, Indian Railways plans to lease out some of them and aims to rake-in Rs 600 crore through this move this fiscal, a senior Railways official said.

"We plan to lease 15 plots in different metros and Tier 11 cities on long lease this fiscal and hope to net Rs 600 crore through this," Rail Land Development Authority, Member-Finance, F Mehmood, said.

"We have identified a land-bank of 1,900 hectares for development. This will be leased out in phases. We have appointed 15 consultants for this purpose," he said.

Most of the land available for lease is in the eastern region, he said.Leasing its land for residential purposes is not under consideration presently; the official said but added that "if good proposals come, then we may think about it." In the first phase, railway lands in Bandra in Mumbai, Aurangabad (Maharashtra) and Jamnagar City, Gujarat India are among the plots the Railways is planning to lease out to fund its infrastructure development, he said.