Brahmaputra Cracker & Polymer's (BCPL) Rs 5,400-crore gas cracker project at Lepetkata in Dibrugarh in Assam is running about six months behind schedule.

BCPL has been able to achieve 18.2 per cent progress against the scheduled progress of 37.6 per cent in the project. Currently, efforts are being put in to catch up for the delays to maintain project completion schedule of April 2012, as was planned earlier.

Due to the delay, the project is likely to face 15 to 20 per cent cost escalation. Though the company has not yet looked into cost escalation factor. According to sources, owing to multiple reasons, like delays, change in foreign exchange rates, rise in price of natural gas etc, the project will eventually see cost escalation to the extent of 15 to 20 per cent.

So far, BCPL has incurred a capital expenditure of Rs 4,343 crore towards the project implementation. The total expenditure planned for this fiscal is Rs 2,272 crore.

Currently, site development works are in progress as the entire land for the project has already been acquired. Environmental clearances both from the state and Union Government have been obtained. The purchase orders and the contracts worth over Rs 3,540 crore have been placed and the placement of remaining orders and contracts are being expedited.

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