PATNA: In a major relief to the companies setting up ethanol units in Bihar, the Centre has extended the deadline for commissioning of the ethanol production plants in the state till September 30, former industry minister and national spokesperson of BJP Syed Shahnawaz Hussain said on Saturday.
Shahnawaz said according to the agreement with the oil marketing companies, ethanol will be procured from the production plants being set up in Bihar.
“The time for commissioning of all 17 ethanol production plants in Bihar was fixed for January 15 this year. Some companies have completed construction on time and started producing ethanol. However, some companies are facing slight delay in completing the construction due to various valid reasons. With the extension of the deadline for commissioning of all ethanol plants in Bihar till September 30, all the serious investors have got a big relief,” Shahnawaz said in a statement issued on Saturday.
Shahnawaz said he visited the 500 kilolitre (KL) ethanol plant being built at Parwalpur in Nalanda on Wednesday. “It was a great pleasure to see the ethanol plant being constructed in a large area there. We are keen to see all the approved ethanol plants in Bihar and start production after completing construction,” Shahnawaz said.
The state government had launched Ethanol Production Promotion Policy in March 2021, making Bihar the first state in the country to have its own ethanol promotion policy under National Policy of Biofuels, 2018. The state ethanol policy has allowed extraction of ethanol from surplus quantities of maize, which was earlier limited only to sugar cane.
