Abu Dhabi firm keen on investing in Kochi petro park

Kerala team holds talks with ADNOC chief executive officer

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, UAE’s national oil company, has evinced interest in investing at the upcoming petrochemicals park in Kochi, which will be developed by the State-owned infrastructure builder Kinfra.

The oil company’s interest in investing in Kochi came up during a round of discussions by a high-level delegation from Kerala with Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, ADNOC chief executive officer, at the oil company headquarters, a Kinfra release here said on Wednesday.

Task force to be formed

A decision has also been taken to form a joint task force for the purpose. The task force will discuss the opportunities for investments and the ADNOC CEO will visit Kerala for furthering the project.

Sultan Jaber told the Kerala delegation that India was foremost in the oil company’s mind for investments in the petroleum sector, which offered great opportunities.

The Kerala delegation also requested Sultan Jaber to invest in infrastructure development in Kerala.

The delegation was of the opinion that the investment atmosphere in Kerala was good and that sufficient land was available in Kochi for investments in the petroleum sector.

State Chief Secretary Tom Jose, Industries Principal Secretary K. Elangovan, Indian Ambassador Navdeep Singh Suri, and industrialist M.A. Yusuf Ali were part of the delegation.

FACT land

Kinfra managing director K.A. Santosh Kumar told reporters here this week that Kinfra expected to get the Union Cabinet approval for acquisition of 450 acres belonging to Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore (FACT). It is more than a year since an MoU was signed between the government of Kerala and FACT for the transfer of land. Development of the petrochemicals park will begin once the land deal is completed.