NEW DELHI, May 13 — The Haryana Government is in the dark about the fate of the 350-400 mw Panipat power project being set up by the joint venture Indian Oil Corporation and Marubeni Corporation of Japan.

For a state which is facing a power crisis, the project, which was to be a spin off of the six million tonne Panipat refinery of the Indian Oil Corporation, had raised hopes of some relief, but, going by the progress of the project, it appears to be a distant dream.

While Haryana Government sources were of the opinion that the project take-off was due any time now, officials associated with the implementation of the project disclosed that it was unlikely to be commissioned before 2004.

When told about the proposed schedule of the project, senior Haryana Government officials expressed surprise, saying they were not aware that it would take such a long time.

Officials of the Indian Oil Corporation and Marubeni had recently met senior state government officials and discussed a tentative power purchase agreement. The state government had sought certain clarifications and the officials of the joint venture company had assured that they would get back with a firm power purchase agreement.

“As far as we are concerned, it is now up to the IOC-Marubeni officials to get back to us”, a senior Haryana Government official told TNS.

However, at the IOC end, officials explained that the power project was initially planned to take off a few years after the setting up of the six million tonne refinery. It was decided to use heavy residue from the Panipat refinery as fuel for the project.

The plans had however, changed now. The IOC planed now to go in for an expansion of the existing refinery and add another six million tonnes capacity. The expansion project would be done with new technology, which would yield petro-coke as residue, which could be used to fuel the power project.