Kolkata, Oct 12 (IANS): Haldia Petrochemical Limited (HPL), on Thursday, has claimed that it will be making a fresh investment of Rs 3,000 crore in the chemicals sector in West Bengal by setting up new factories at Haldia in East Midnapore district.

According to a Press statement issued by the company here on Thursday, the first investment will be on an on-purpose propylene unit based on Olefin Conversion Technology (OCT) and the second will be on a phenol unit. Both will be at the company’s existing facility at Haldia.

“It will be the largest phenol plant in the country with a production capacity of 300 KTPA phenol and 185 KTPA acetone,” claimed the whole-time director and the chief executive officer of HPL Navanit Narayan.

He also said that with the commissioning of these plants, the overall chemical business portfolio is expected to increase by an additional Rs. 5,000 crore.

“As the plans move towards fruition, there will be advancement in areas such as digitisation. This will generate direct and indirect employment in the downstream chemical industry. The total industrial scenario evolving around chemicals will witness tremendous growth within a very short period,” he added.

According to him, the demand for petrochemicals is growing due to a large population base, favourable demographics, increasing economic growth, urbanisation, and its positive impact on automobile production, construction, infrastructure, agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals.

“This proposed investment will likely be the largest in West Bengal in the chemical sector over the last two decades. It has also led to an increase in the number of ancillary units,” Narayan added.