Project to minimize petroleum led pollution in Chennai commissioned

Prime  Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for Rs 829 crore Petroleum, Oil, and Lubricants (POL) pipelines in Common Corridor for the proposed Grassroot terminal at Vallur, set up outside the city limits in the adjoining Tiruvallur district with a view to reduce pollution in the city

The decision to set up a terminal at Vallur was taken when the National green Tribunal passed strictures against the continuance of the terminals at Korukupet and Tondiarpet within the Chennai city limits. The tribunal has directed the Indian Oil corporation to terminate the facility in the two city based terminals

The pipeline will help connect GrassrootVallur terminal with Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited in Manali Refinery and a new captive jetty at Kamarajar Port Limited. The project is expected to be completed by May 2026.

The pipeline will provide safe linkage to the grassroot terminal at Vallur which is an operational necessity due to closure directives issued by National Green Tribunal for the existing  Korukkupet and Tondiarpet depots. The pipeline will also facilitate fulfilling the combined requirement of aviation turbine fuel (ATF)  at  Chennai and  Bangalore bases which is expected to be more than 1,400  Thousand Metric Tonnes (TMT) by 2029-30.

The terminal at Vallur along with the proposed captive jetty at Kamarajar Port Limited and common corridor pipelines will provide an efficient and effective route for coastal in/out movements from Chennai. This will result in substantial reduction of truck movement, leading to low carbon dioxide emissions, thus providing safe and green movement of petroleum products. Tamil Nadu is one of very few states which has just one refinery in Chennai which was set up way back in 1965. Since then the petroleum ministry and IOC thought it fit not to expand. The second refinery project of the IOC at Nagapatinam has taken nearly ten years for the work to start. It is likely to be commissioned after three years. This would require lot of coastal movement of petroleum products from Chennai0:50

The project was facing hurdles in change of land use for 13.134 acres by the state housing department and approval of imported earth required for filling under the project. It was reviewed by Project Monitoring Group (PMG).