By IANS,
Lucknow : Bharat Renewable Energy, a subsidiary of state-owned oil company Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL), will invest Rs.21.31 billion (Rs.2,131 crore) in a bio-diesel project in Uttar Pradesh, a senior official said.
The project envisages production of diesel from oil extracted from the jatropha plant, a proven source of alternative fuel.
“To begin with, we are going to concentrate in five districts – Kanpur, Jhansi, Laltpur, Chitrakoot and Sultanpur,” said Ashutosh Srivastava, chief operating officer of Bharat Renewable Energy.
The project, which was scheduled to kickstart in 2007-8, will start “shortly”, he said.
“We are shortly going to undertake large-scale plantation of jatropha across these five districts. Since the plant grows rapidly, we would be able to start extracting oil three years from now,” Srivastava told IANS.
He added that the company would install nearly 200 oil extraction units in these five districts where 10 refineries would also come up.
“We have already posted 15 project officers to supervise the jatropha plantation drive, which is slated to commence by the end of the current month,” said Srivastava.